The Call Of the Wild
by London, Jack
Jack London’s The Call of the Wild is an anthropomorphic canine’s unforgettable tale of survival. Set during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, the novel’s main character, Buck, a large and powerful St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd, is stolen from his ranch home in Santa Clara Valley, California, and sold into service as a sled dog. At first, Buck experiences violence and struggles for survival, becoming progressively feral in the harsh environment. By the end, Buck relies on his instinct and learned experience to emerge as the proven leader of the pack.
In The Call of the Wild, author Jack London blends his experience as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness with his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, influenced by the work of Darwin and Nietzsche. Thus, although the novel is first and foremost a story about a dog, it displays a philosophical depth absent in most animal adventures.
In the summer of 1903, the story was first serialized in four installments in The Saturday Evening Post, which paid $750 for it. Soon after, London sold all rights to The Call of the Wild to Macmillan, which published the story in book format in August of that same year. As the first printing of 10,000 copies sold out immediately, it is safe to say the novel was enormously popular from the moment it was published. It has since secured its place in the canon of American literature. Today, The Call of the Wild is still one of the best-known stories written by an American author and has been published in almost 50 languages. The Call of the Wild is ranked 35th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels and 88th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century.
First Edition Identification and Notes
Macmillan first published The Call of the Wild in August 1903. Produced in a print run of 10,000 copies, first editions state "Set up electrotyped, and published July, 1903" on the copyright page and contain 10 tipped-in color plates by illustrators Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull as well as a color frontispiece by Charles Edward Hooper. The first printing of The Call of the Wild sold for $1.50. Nowadays, signed copies have sold for upwards of $20,000.
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Available copies

The Call of the Wild
by LONDON, Jack
- Seller
- Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Fine
- Item Price
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$28,500.00
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The Call of the Wild.
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Raptis Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Item Price
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$27,500.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- First Edition
- Item Price
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$22,000.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Bookbid Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$20,000.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Bookbid Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$19,500.00
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The Call Of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB
- Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$19,500.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Philosopher's Stone Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Fair
- Item Price
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$15,000.00
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The Call of the Wild
by LONDON, JACK
- Seller
- Peter L. Stern & Company, Inc.
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- First Edition of Jack London’s best-known book. About a fine copy in what is claimed to be the earliest dust jacket. The jacke
- Item Price
-
$15,000.00
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The Call of the Wild.
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Raptis Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Item Price
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$12,500.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Bookbid Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$10,000.00
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The Call of the Wild
by LONDON, Jack
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- Yesterday's Gallery, ABAA
- Published
- 1903
- Item Price
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$7,500.00
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The Call Of The Wild
by London, Jack
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- mclinhavenbooks
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- very good Plus
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$3,100.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
- Published
- 1903
- Edition
- First Edition
- Item Price
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$2,500.00
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The Call of The Wild
by Jack London
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- Syds Book Shack & Boutique
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$1,500.00
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The Call of the Wild.
by LONDON, Jack.
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- Peter Ellis bookseller
- Published
- 1903
- Item Price
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$1,088.77
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
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- Magus Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
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$1,000.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Blueheronbks
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Very Good (-)
- Edition
- First edition first printing
- Item Price
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$875.00
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Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Feldman's Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- First Edition.
- Item Price
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$750.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- PsychoBabel & Skoob Books
- Published
- 1907
- Condition
- Very Good
- Item Price
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$640.45
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
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- Arroyo Seco Books
- Published
- 1912
- Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 3rd Edition 3rd Printing
- Item Price
-
$550.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Good Books In The Woods
- Published
- 2014
- Condition
- Fine
- Item Price
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$500.00
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THE CALL OF THE WILD
by LONDON, Jack
- Seller
- Boston Book Company
- Published
- 1907
- Item Price
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$450.00
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The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- Schwabe Books
- Published
- 1903-01-01
- Condition
- Good
- Item Price
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$450.00
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The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- Dunaway Books
- Published
- 2014
- Condition
- Like New
- Item Price
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$450.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Carpe Diem Fine Books
- Published
- 1903
- Edition
- Fourth printing
- Item Price
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$446.00
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Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- KAM
- Published
- 1908 May, June
- Item Price
-
$400.00
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THE CALL OF THE WILD
by LONDON, Jack
- Seller
- Charles Agvent
- Published
- 1960
- Condition
- Slight sunning to the spine. About Fine in a Fine slipcase, not often found in this condition
- Item Price
-
$312.50
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THE CALL OF THE WILD
by Jack London
- Seller
- Schwabe Books
- Published
- 1977
- Condition
- Good
- Item Price
-
$294.00
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Babyboomers
by Bridgwood, Caroline
- Seller
- Mondevana
- Published
- 1992
- Edition
- 1.
- ISBN
- 9783612270061
- Item Price
-
$269.19
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CALL OF THE WILD - Custom Clamshell Case Only
by London, Jack
- Seller
- TBCL The Book Collector's Library
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Clamshell As New
- Edition
- Custom Clamshell Case
- Item Price
-
$225.00
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The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- CraigsClassics
- Published
- 1904
- Condition
- Fair
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
-
$225.00
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The Call of the Wild : And Other Stories (Illustrated Junior Library)
by London, Jack
- Seller
- ThriftBooks
- Published
- 1992
- Condition
- Good
- Item Price
-
$199.99
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The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- ThriftBooks
- Published
- 1979
- Condition
- Acceptable
- ISBN
- 9780817220068
- Item Price
-
$199.63
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The Call of the Wild (The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature )
by London, Jack
- Seller
- PACIFIC COAST BOOK SELLERS
- Condition
- New
- Item Price
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$174.99
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Call Of The Wild
by Jack LONDON
- Seller
- Schwabe Books
- Published
- 1907
- Condition
- Good
- Item Price
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$174.00
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The Call of The Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Kelleher Rare Books
- Published
- 1903
- Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
-
$162.17
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THE CALL OF THE WILD
by LONDON, Jack
- Seller
- Charles Agvent
- Published
- 1960
- Condition
- Foxing to first and last few pages; one very small area of loss of fabric on the front cover of the book which has a sunned spin
- Item Price
-
$156.30
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The Call of the Wild (Large Print Edition)
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Stephen White Books
- Published
- 1978-11-21
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN
- 9780859973854
- Item Price
-
$153.68
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Dr. Bookman - All Books Tightly Packaged in Cardboard
- Published
- 1982
- Condition
- New with No dust jacket as issued
- Item Price
-
$136.60
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The Call Of The Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Arroyo Seco Books
- Published
- 1960
- Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- First Edition Thus
- Item Price
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$135.00
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Brown Wolf and Other Jack London Stories
by London, Jack
- Seller
- McKenzie Company
- Published
- 1920
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Item Price
-
$132.00
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Wonder Book
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN
- 9780451519948
- Item Price
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$129.99
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The Call of the Wild (100 Copy Limited Edition)
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Bonita
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN
- 9781772265927
- Item Price
-
$128.47
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The Call of The Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Kelleher Rare Books
- Published
- 1910
- Condition
- Fair
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item Price
-
$108.11
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- ParlorBooks
- Published
- 1962-01-01
- Condition
- Acceptable
- Item Price
-
$99.72
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- Toadlily Books
- Published
- 1960
- Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- Limited Edition
- Item Price
-
$95.00
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The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- Bonita
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN
- 9781413010961
- Item Price
-
$91.18
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Call of the Wild
by Jack London
- Seller
- GridFreed LLC
- Published
- 1963-11-01
- Condition
- New
- ISBN
- 9780027595208
- Item Price
-
$89.37
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The Call of the Wild (Watermill Classics)
by
- Seller
- Better World Books
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN
- 9780816728800
- Item Price
-
$89.15
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The Call of the Wild
by London, Jack
- Seller
- GridFreed LLC
- Published
- 2021-09-28
- Condition
- New
- ISBN
- 9780809501090
- Item Price
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$88.01