Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) is one of just three writers to receive more than one Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Immensely prolific and popular, he was known for his quintessentially Midwestern fiction; Monsieur Beaucaire, set notably far from the American heartland, was his second published work.

This first edition wasinscribed by the author on the front flyleaf: “’And live men are jus’ — names!’ said M. Beaucaire. Booth Tarkington, Kennebunkport, Oct. 17, 1940.” (Tarkington spent much of his later life in Kennebunkport, ME.)

The novel is illustrated with six plates (including a frontispiece) by C.D. Williams, printed in violet with dark green frames and and all having tissue guards. The other decorations in the book were designed by Charles Edwin Hooper.

Binding:  Publisher’s red cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to spine and front board; illustrated endpapers and top edge gilt. Housed in a chemise within quarter red morocco openback slipcase with five raised bands, gilt lettering and decoration to spine.

•  Wright, III, 5370; Merle Johnson, p. 489; Russo & Sullivan, pp. 6–9.   Bound as above; corners slightly bumped, slipcase edges lightly rubbed. Very minor gutter crack at p. 44 and a more notable one at p. 62, without affecting strength of binding. Charmingly cased and signed by its celebrated author, a nice copyattractive and smart.  (37920)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper (now separated) with bookplate of Dr. Martin J. Loeb, a prominent New York physician and philanthropist, with an explanatory “Legend of the Bookplate” label affixed to opposing fly-leaf.

•  BAL 19807.   Publisher's brown morocco, bevelled boards, covers framed in decorative blind rolls, spine with raised band and gilt-stamped title, turn-ins with gilt roll; light wear overall with extremities rubbed and spine title dimmed. All edges gilt. BAL binding C, the others being cloth. Front free endpaper (with bookplate) separated; back pastedown with small (upside-down!) numerical paper label. Foxing, as the paper is inclined to it, and a little soiling; a “decent” copy.  (40360)

•  Osborne Collection, p. 838 (for first ed.).  Contemporary ribbon-embossed cloth, front cover with printed red paper label; binding rubbed overall and spotted with light discolorations, label dimmed, cloth split at front joint with front hinge (inside) tender and back hinge cracked. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled inscription, now much faded. First plate separated and torn across lower portion, without loss and with pencilled scribble on verso, repaired from rear; foxing throughout. A worn and somewhat fragile copy, still ready for faithful service.  (41587)

Binding:  Publisher's green cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and basket vignette, spine with gilt-stamped author and title.

•  Light wear only to joints and extremities, cloth showing small spots of faint discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1910, front fly-leaf with same owner's inked inscription. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean.  (30499)

•  Not in Sabin. Quarter buckram over paper-covered sides. Without the original mourning wrappers. "Mercantile Library Co." blind-stamped on both sides. Paper call number label on spine. Edges and corners worn, tips of spine pulled, with loss. Ownership signature on front fly leaf, and charge pocket and card on rear free endpaper. Dog-eared. (3722)

•  American Imprints 45-6531.   Publisher's charmingly printed tan paper wrappers; corners rubbed, sides with light staining, spine paper chipped. Plates age-toned; pages with light to moderate foxing and staining. This was not a “luxury” production but it was quite a nice one — appealing both textually and visually.  (41445)

•  Publisher’s cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly scuffed overall, spine with extremities worn and one compartment gently faded, back joint with small ink blotch and corner of front cover with traces of old adhesion, as a sticker. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and institutional bookplate, front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1859, title-page verso stamped (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned. (19078)

We've added a copy to our permanent reference library here at PRB&M: This includes collations and useful commentary.

•  Paperback with full color illustrations. A very good reference work.  (36706)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers; wrappers darkened with corners bumped, front wrapper with small ink spots, short edge tears, and faint rings of discoloration. Faint intermittent foxing with one signature (only) more notably age-toned.; final leaf with portion torn out of outer margin, not touching text. A pleasing touchstone for Victorian literature and its “production.”  (33259)

The present work is a series of short stories (“The Missionary Sheriff,” “The Cabinet Organ,” “His Duty,” “The Hypnotist,” “The Next Room,” and “The Defeat of Amos Wickliff”) set in Iowa The black and white illustrations are by A.B. Frost and Clifford Carleton.

Binding:  Publisher's blue-gray cloth stamped in white with an overall pattern of an exuberant vine hiding the repeating image of an eagle with a palm branch in one talon and arrows in the other. Title and author in gilt on cover and on spine.

•  Wright, III, 2046.   Binding as above, very bright and nice; without the dust jacket. Very good condition.  (34607)

Binding:  Green morocco with unusual partly bevelled edges, front cover framed and panelled in blind and gilt with central blind-stamped diamond medallion in enclosing gilt-stamped decorations; spine with gilt-tooled raised bands, turn-ins with gilt roll, green marbled endpapers and all edges deckle. Binding stamped by London Harness Company, marked “made in Italy.”

•  Bound as above, sunned to varying degrees, leather split across front joint but secure to spine, sides scuffed, edges and extremities rubbed. While only a few leaves of this remarkable volume have been used, what is here is a treasure trove of theatrical association. (41670)

•  Publisher's paper wrappers. A fresh, clean copy.  (37134)

•  Sabin 97079. Publisher's blind stamped charcoal gray cloth with a grain to it; spine stamped and lettered in gilt. Cloth a little bubbled on the boards, with spots of discoloration. Top and bottom of spine pulled. Faint traces of waterstaining at top of some pages and a few other, stray stains. An “okay” copy.  (8005)

•  Very Good condition, in recent wrappers.  (7771)

The depositions here offer a view of “ordinary” military life that is full of specifics, as well as accounts of moments of high excitement.

•  Sewn as issued; in later plain wrappers. Some dust-soiling and light foxing.  (3303)

The treaty states that the United States will pay each family thirty dollars annually for twenty years for their decisions to “withdraw from the route overland already established,” ceasing all warfare with other groups, and to settle future disputes by using the president as an arbitrator. The government promises that it will provide protection from “annoyance or molestation on the part of whites or Indians” should members of the group settle permanently to engage in agricultural pursuits, and offers further incentives for their doing so.

It was ratified 5 March 1866 and later proclaimed by President Johnson on March 17.

•  Eberstadt 130.   Folded sheets, light age-toning, gently chipped along edges; light pencilling on upper margin of title-page.  (36650)

The treaty states that the United States will pay each family thirty dollars annually for twenty years for their decisions to “withdraw from the route overland already established,” ceasing all warfare with other groups, and to settle future disputes by using the president as an arbitrator. The government promises that it will provide protection from “annoyance or molestation on the part of whites or Indians” should members of the group settle permanently to engage in agricultural pursuits, and offers further incentives for their doing so.

It was ratified 5 March 1866 and later proclaimed by President Johnson on March 17.

•  Eberstadt 130.   Folded sheets, light age-toning, gentle chipping along edges; light pencilling on upper margin of title-page, bottom corner of same chipped away.  (36651)

It may interest the reader to know that half of the writings in this volume are by women.

Sole edition. The volume was a fund-raising effort: “The principal reason that these stories have been gathered together and given to the public, is to start a fund wherewith to erect a fountain on the Campus of the University of California to be in harmony with the great Hearst architectural plan.”

Binding:  Publisher's blue cloth stamped in gilt with title and a scene of a rolling hill with trees on it. Binding signed “Kales.”

•  BAL 15035.   Binding as above: gilt a little rubbed or dulled. Overall, very good.  (34834)

These ephemeral guidebooks are not widely institutionally held in the U.S., although a different, quarterly publication of the same title (published by E.A. Pierce & Co.) appears to be somewhat more common.

•  Publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers; creased and lightly soiled, with inked date on spine and pencilled annotations on back wrapper. Text block just starting to pull away from wrappers. Pages age-toned; three leaves separated. A useful snapshot of the American economy in the spring of 1921.  (37198)

Following the poetry section there is a series of advertisements for products such as Pratt's Astral Oil and double-deodorized benzine. This is an interesting, attractive little relic of an era when manufacturers of such humble products sought surprisingly often to associate themselves with Much Higher Things — often going to real trouble and expense to do so!

•  Beige printed wrappers with “1888" written on the front cover in ink and a small pink stain at top edge; light age-toning.  (36736)

“The affectionate interest which I have always entertained for the welfare & happiness, of the eldest daughter, & proper representative, of one of the most estimable, and accomplished ladies who ever adorned the society of Philadelphia, induces me to comply with a request of the possessor of this volume, to inscribe some lines upon one of its pages.

It were impossible to contribute wiser counsel, or more excellent lessons, than those already recorded in this Album, by her honoured Father, & several of his, & her Mothers [sic] friends.

I will only commend her to the most faithful observation of that advice, and to the strictest imitation of the pure & bright example, furnished in the character of her departed & lamented Mother, whose unostentatious piety, gave especial grace & dignity to her life, and has no doubt yielded for her immortal spirit, a precious & enduring rest, in Heaven.”

Provenance:  The Walsh album sold at Anderson Galleries 28 November 1921 (sale 1609) as lot 60. Later in the Allyn K. Ford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, recently deaccessioned.

•  Very good condition.  (34490)