The Vermilion Pencil

The McClure Company, Inc, 1908. hardcover. Very Good/Missing. 0x0x0. 1908 first edition The McClure Co. (New York), 5 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches tall grey cloth hardcover, no dust jacket, gilt and red decoration and lettering to front cover and spine, color frontispiece with tissue guard, vi, 331 pp. Very slight soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers, with minor bumping to the tips. Small red ink number to upper tip of blank front free-endpaper. Otherwise, apart from very slight age toning, a very good to near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked. ~SP33~ [2.0P] Homer Lea (1876-1912), was an American adventurer, author and geopolitical strategist, best known for his involvement with Chinese reform and revolutionary movements in the early twentieth century and for his writings about China and geopolitics. Lea is less well known for this, his first major effort at writing a novel entitled, The Vermilion Pencil: A Romance of China (1908). After going to China (1900-1901), he used his experiences there to craft his novel. In it he depicted a colorful picture of Chinese rural life with a fast moving plot centering on the relationship and romance of a French missionary and the young wife of a Chinese viceroy.