THE LITTLE LADY OF THE BIG HOUSE
by London, Jack
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Yarmouth, Maine, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
1916. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916. 6 pp undated ads. Original blue cloth pictorially decorated in black, white and orange.
First Edition of this tale about a love triangle on a large ranch. Though not published until the year of Jack's death, he had written this during his bad year of 1913. He spent much of that year visiting a dentist, finally having all of his upper teeth pulled to halt the pyorrhea raging in his gums; at about the same time, his Wolf House burned down two weeks before its completion; and his kidney problems continued to worsen, exacerbated by his drinking and his insistence upon eating raw fish and duck -- "Jack persisted in gobbling underdone flesh as if he were a wolf." [The novel] was meant to exalt the splendor of Wolf House and scientific farming and sex. "It is all sex, from start to finish --" he wrote to the editor of Cosmopolitan, "in which no sexual adventure is actually achieved or comes within a million miles of being achieved, and in which, nevertheless, is all the guts of sex, coupled with strength."... As in THE SEA-WOLF, Jack split his own role between the two male protagonists, the ranch owner Dick Forrest and the romantic adventurer Evan Graham. Forrest is Jack's ideal of the rich commercial rancher of the future, the owner of 250,000 acres worked on strict scientific principles. Evan Graham is another version of Dick Forrest, but he has chosen to remain a writer and a wanderer -- the escapist ideal of Jack himself. Both men... compete for the love of Dick's wife, Paula -- a vision of Charmian as the elegant hostess, the athletic horsewoman, and the Eternal Kid of Jack's fantasies... She kills herself to solve her dilemma the day before Dick has decided to do the same thing. [Sinclair] This is a bright, near-fine copy (a touch of rubbing at the extremities, very light damage to the paste-downs). Sisson & Martens p. 88; Blanck 11966.
First Edition of this tale about a love triangle on a large ranch. Though not published until the year of Jack's death, he had written this during his bad year of 1913. He spent much of that year visiting a dentist, finally having all of his upper teeth pulled to halt the pyorrhea raging in his gums; at about the same time, his Wolf House burned down two weeks before its completion; and his kidney problems continued to worsen, exacerbated by his drinking and his insistence upon eating raw fish and duck -- "Jack persisted in gobbling underdone flesh as if he were a wolf." [The novel] was meant to exalt the splendor of Wolf House and scientific farming and sex. "It is all sex, from start to finish --" he wrote to the editor of Cosmopolitan, "in which no sexual adventure is actually achieved or comes within a million miles of being achieved, and in which, nevertheless, is all the guts of sex, coupled with strength."... As in THE SEA-WOLF, Jack split his own role between the two male protagonists, the ranch owner Dick Forrest and the romantic adventurer Evan Graham. Forrest is Jack's ideal of the rich commercial rancher of the future, the owner of 250,000 acres worked on strict scientific principles. Evan Graham is another version of Dick Forrest, but he has chosen to remain a writer and a wanderer -- the escapist ideal of Jack himself. Both men... compete for the love of Dick's wife, Paula -- a vision of Charmian as the elegant hostess, the athletic horsewoman, and the Eternal Kid of Jack's fantasies... She kills herself to solve her dilemma the day before Dick has decided to do the same thing. [Sinclair] This is a bright, near-fine copy (a touch of rubbing at the extremities, very light damage to the paste-downs). Sisson & Martens p. 88; Blanck 11966.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Sumner & Stillman (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 14927
- Title
- THE LITTLE LADY OF THE BIG HOUSE
- Author
- London, Jack
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Date Published
- 1916
- Keywords
- Farming; Ranching; Bndg-Decor
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction (Early 20th Century);
Terms of Sale
Sumner & Stillman
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Sumner & Stillman
Biblio member since 2009
Yarmouth, Maine
About Sumner & Stillman
Founded in 1980, Sumner & Stillman is a small family business providing personal service in the buying and selling of literary first editions of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) for over 30 years.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.