A WAIF OF THE PLAINS. [inscribed]
by Harte, Bret
- Used
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Yarmouth, Maine, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
1890. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1890. Original royal blue cloth decorated in black, page edges stained orange.
First American Edition, published about two months after the edition in London (where Harte was then living). This copy is from the first printing, with (across from the title page) this title priced at $1.25 -- which would soon be reduced to $1.00. Harte was still trying to "mine" frontier tales, despite having permanently moved to Great Britain (without his wife and children) in 1878: this novel tells of the orphan Susy traveling the Oregon Trail in the summer of 1852 (three years later, Harte would continue her saga with SUSY: A STORY OF THE PLAINS). This copy is in good-to-very good condition (some whitish marks on the covers, minor shelf-wear, volume askew). Blanck 7350. Provenance: the front free endpaper bears Harte's inscription "Mrs Myers | from | Bret Harte | London, July 1890". Eveleen Tennant (1856-1937) in 1888 embarked on a career as a self-taught photographer -- the same year that she married the classicist, poet and psychical researcher Frederick William Henry Myers. She also was the subject of numerous paintings, by artists such as Watts and Millais. (The National Portrait Gallery holds 203 examples of this photographic pioneer's work, as well as 30 paintings with herself as subject.) On the paste-down of this volume is her bookplate (an early example of the "return this book to me!" bookplate); the less-than-fine condition of this volume implies that not all her borrowers knew how to take care of books.
First American Edition, published about two months after the edition in London (where Harte was then living). This copy is from the first printing, with (across from the title page) this title priced at $1.25 -- which would soon be reduced to $1.00. Harte was still trying to "mine" frontier tales, despite having permanently moved to Great Britain (without his wife and children) in 1878: this novel tells of the orphan Susy traveling the Oregon Trail in the summer of 1852 (three years later, Harte would continue her saga with SUSY: A STORY OF THE PLAINS). This copy is in good-to-very good condition (some whitish marks on the covers, minor shelf-wear, volume askew). Blanck 7350. Provenance: the front free endpaper bears Harte's inscription "Mrs Myers | from | Bret Harte | London, July 1890". Eveleen Tennant (1856-1937) in 1888 embarked on a career as a self-taught photographer -- the same year that she married the classicist, poet and psychical researcher Frederick William Henry Myers. She also was the subject of numerous paintings, by artists such as Watts and Millais. (The National Portrait Gallery holds 203 examples of this photographic pioneer's work, as well as 30 paintings with herself as subject.) On the paste-down of this volume is her bookplate (an early example of the "return this book to me!" bookplate); the less-than-fine condition of this volume implies that not all her borrowers knew how to take care of books.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Sumner & Stillman (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 15361
- Title
- A WAIF OF THE PLAINS. [inscribed]
- Author
- Harte, Bret
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Date Published
- 1890
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction (19th Century); Signed & Inscribed;
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:
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- 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"...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Paste-down
- The paste-down is the portion of the endpaper that is glued to the inner boards of a hardback book. The paste-down forms an...