The Marble Faun. by FAULKNER, William - 1924

Boston: The Four Seas Company, 1924. Faulkner's first book, inscribed to the man who inspired Dink Quistenberry's name First edition, sole printing, presentation copy of Faulkner's first book. This copy has been inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Dink Cearley from Bill Faulkner" and also signed and dated 31 December 1924 on the title page. C. L. ("Dink") Cearley was in 1924 the 19-year-old son of Abb W. Cearley (69 years old, married at age 36) and Mollie Cearley. Abb was the jailor in Oxford, Mississippi, and would probably have been elected to that position. Abb and Mollie were both born in Mississippi, as were all four of their parents. The Cearley family (including several siblings) lived on the premises of the jail. In 1931 there is a record of a minor ($2) payment to a Mr Woodward "in the Dink Cearley Case" and there are occasional references to Cearley Service Station, but otherwise the family seems to have lived quietly. The fact that Faulkner uses the familiar form of his own forename suggests that he was on easy terms with the younger Dink. Faulkner employed the unusual forename for the character Dink Quistenberry in The Town, who marries into the Snopes family and runs the Jefferson (formerly Snopes) Hotel.
The Marble Faun is the author's first book, of which only 500 of the projected 1,000 copies were printed and some 300 of those were later pulped. The official publication date was, after some delay, fixed as 15 December 1924 and the earliest dated presentation copies were signed on the 19th. Octavo. Original mottled green boards, white paper title labels to front board and spine printed in green. With dust jacket. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Front hinge starting, small production flaw to rear hinge, small tear to the top of the front joint of the jacket, but a stunning copy of a famously vulnerable publication. With thanks to John Ward, professor in the English department at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, for information about the recipient.