AMERICAN FIRST EDITIONS

A Series of Bibliographic Check-Lists*

Edited by Merle Johnson and Frederick M. Hopkins
Number 44.

GERTRUDE (FRANKLIN) ATHERTON, 1857

Compiled by Merle Johnson

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME by Frank Lin (pseud.). Chicago, [1888].
HERMIA SUYDAM. New York, [1889].

LOS CERRITOS. New York, 1890.

THE DOOMSWOMAN. New York, 1892.

BEFORE THE GRINGO CAME. New York, [1894].

A WHIRL ASUNDER. New York, 1895.

Copy 6 inches high, probably first.

PATIENCE SPARHAWK. New York, 1897.
HIS FORTUNATE GRACE. New York, 1897.

AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS. New York, 1898.
Re-issued 1919 as "Transplanted."

THE CALIFORNIANS. New York, 1898.

A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE. New York, 1899.
THE VALIANT RUNAWAYS. New York, 1899.

SENATOR NORTH. New York, 1900.

THE ARISTOCRATS. New York, 1901.

THE CONQUEROR. New York, 1902.

THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES. New York, 1902.

Revised and enlarged edition of "Before the Gringo Came."

MRS. PENDLETON'S FOUR-IN-HAND. New York, 1903.

RULERS OF KINGS. New York, 1904.

THE BELL IN THE FOG. New York, 1905.

THE TRAVELLING THIRDS. New York, 1905.

REZANOV. New York, 1906.

ANCESTORS. New York, 1907.

THE GORGEOUS ISLE. New York, 1908.

PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES. New York, 1908.

TOWER OF IVORY. New York, 1910.

JULIA FRANCE. New York, 1912.

PERCH OF THE DEVIL. New York, [1914].

CALIFORNIA. New York, 1914.

MRS. BALFAME. New York, [1916].

LIFE IN THE WAR ZONE. New York, 1916.
THE LIVING PRESENT. New York, [1917].
THE WHITE MORNING. New York, [1918].

THE AVALANCHE. New York, [1919].
THE SISTERS IN LAW. New York, [1921].
SLEEPING FIRES. New York, [1922].

BLACK OXEN. New York, [1923].

250 advance copies of the first edition autographed.

Editor "A FEW OF HAMILTON'S LETTERS." New York, 1903. Also editor of the American Woman's Magazine, February-November, 1918.

* Copyright, 1923, by the R. R. Bowker Co.

A

The Book Fliver, 1923 Model
By Frank Shay

T Provincetown and along Cape Cod this summer they are using the same book properties as last year but the actors are new. The town still has its yearround Advocate Bookshop and Ted Robinson's Bookshop which belonged to the visitors' colony is now called The Burning Beacon and is run by Miss Dorothy Wingate,

he predicted, the effect is startling and pleasing. The interior and stock are substantially the same save the best sellers of last year are replaced by those of this year. Miss Boyd reports heavy demands for "Black Oxen," Papini's "Life of Christ," Havelock Ellis's "The Dance of Life," and Harry Kemp's "Tramping on Life." A steady seller is Mor

of Boston. The colony is a thin one this season, and business cannot be compared to that of last year.

The peregrinating Parnassus on Wheels has been supplanted by The Vagabond Bookshop, operated by Miss Helen Boyd. It has all the ear marks of its predecessor, save that the staid and dignified lettering has given way on one side to a modernistic conception of a poet reclining soulfully against the mountain 'Christopher Morley popularized. The other side has a scene from Maud Muller or, it may be, Rebecca at the well. The colors are vivid greens and reds picked out with pale purples and simple saffrons, following closely the ideas of Ernest Elmo Calkins. Just as

ley's "Parnassus on Wheels," suggested, no doubt, by the venture itself.

The itinerary of the vagrant bookshop differs greatly from last year's venture. Beginning at New York it worked its way up the Hudson Valley to Woodstock, stopping en route at towns and places which seemed to contain the elements of a sale. From Woodstock over Vermont and New Hampshire and into Maine. August first found the literary flivver on the last leg of its trip at Province

town.

Caravaning with books, as the writer learned last year, is the sport of bibliopolic gods. The experience one gains is worth while, regardless of the cost, and it forever lays the ghost of

the desire to carry books into the hinterland. There is no doubt that some day a traveling

bookshop will pay expenses and earn divi- M

dends, but the territory covered will have to be more thickly populated with readers and bookbuyers, and the jumps between sales, considerably shortened. One cannot carry a ton

of books very far on a gallon of gas, and garage charges are heavy. New England garage men seem to feel instinctively that anyone who has money enough to engage upon such a venture can be mulcted of heavy sums for new timers and spark-plugs. They come very near the truth.

The elements that, on the part of the purchaser, go to make for a sale are more or less well-known. They are the result of a mood, a desire for mental stimulation, the recommendation of an acquaintance, a review, any one of a thousand things. The reader thus inflicted knows just where to get his book, by mail, or, by a personal visit to a bookshop, at the public library, or, by borrowing it from a friend. The nomadic bookshop is seldom about when such a phenomenon occurs. Salesmanship does enter in the problem but bookbuyers are too widely scattered, at least in New England, to make that territory profitable to one with the greatest ability. England thrift seems to be proof against the thrills even of the greatest books.

New

At Peterborough, N. H., where the MacDowell Colony holds forth, Miss Boyd fell into the hands of a Salvationist. He tried to convert her-to what, Miss Boyd did not say. In looking over her stock he said, cryptically, that he "knew one writer who would not go to Heaven." When asked his name he became silent. He probably knew what happened to a book when Mr. Sumner said it was a bad one and should not be read. At another point an old New England lady came up and informed the voyageur that she was an omnivorous reader. "But." she said kindly, "I read only my Bible."

A really successful way to run a book caravan is to have one owned by the National Association of Book Publishers which will rent it to any designing bookseller. He can have his fling and then rest quietly. For a couple of days the writer operated Miss Boyd's wagon and found that he had had sufficient to last until next year.

Conference of College Stores

ANAGERS of college bookstores are being invited to come together for two days' discussion of their problems, on Thursday and Friday, October 25th and 26th. The National Association of Book Publishers is issuing the invitation at the suggestion of several managers, and will provide the place of meeting at its offices, 334 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Over a dozen managers have already indicated their intention of coming to the conference, and it seems probable that some permanent organization of college bookstore managers may grow out of it.

These stores, which are not competitive, have many problems which differ from those in the administration of general bookstores. Relations with university or college, publicity of miscellaneous books to students and faculty, textbook exchanges, alumni reading courses, will be discussed. Consideration of methods of store arrangement, training assistants, and bookkeeping has also been requested. The conference will take its definite form from the suggestions of those attending.

Meetings will begin promptly at ten each morning. A luncheon on Thursday will provide opportunity for dealers to meet socially. On Thursday evening some informal entertainment will be provided for guests. Afternoons will be left free for such business as individual dealers may wish to plan. The National Association of Book Publishers will place the services of its offices at the disposal of the conference. Miss Humble will be present at the meetings to handle records of the conference and such plans and correspondence as may result from them.

College bookstore managers are urged to send word to the Association that they will be present in October.

Australia Wants American Fiction

THE

HE old, well-established firm of wholesale and retail booksellers at Melbourne, Australia, has just been amalgamated with the business of Melville & Mullen, Ltd., who, for many years, were widely known as retailers. The new corporation, under the name of Robertson & Mullens, Ltd., announces that it is in the market to purchase forthcoming American novels in quantities with exclusive sales rights for the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. To this end, the firm requests early copies or galley proofs of any important fiction. Its plan is to give immediate consideration to all offers and promptly cable for the quantities required.

C

JJ

A Week's Gleaning of Book-Trade News

¶¶THE LIST of best sellers for July, including 25 books of fiction and 25 of non-fiction, shows that the average price of fiction lists at present is $1.98 and the average non-fiction price is $3.44. As the cost of book-making has gone up in several ways since the first of the year, the chance that these may reach lower levels during the next season is very slight indeed.

¶¶KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN, who went to England to attend the convention of the P. E. N. Club, is reported as recovering from her illness which came upon her during her travel. Her book of autobiography will be completed for the fall.

¶¶B. W. HUEBSCH is to publish this fall a volume of twelve hundred pages selected from the writings of Gandhi, the Hindu leader, who is now serving a prison sentence of six years.

¶¶THE COSMOPOLITAN BOOK CORP. is publishing this week Samuel G. Blythe's article entitled "A Calm Review of a Calm Man." The article, which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, was being read to President Harding at the time that he died, and his last words spoken were 'That's good! Go on, read some more."

¶¶CHRISTOPHER MORLEY and others have several times flirted with the idea of a Bedside Library, but it has remained for Dutton to develop this idea, and the volumes announced are: "Cranford," "The Golden Book of St. Augustine," "Selected Essays from Emerson," "Parables and Sayings of Jesus," etc.

¶¶CHARLES A. BEARD, historian, has just returned to this country from an extended trip to the Orient. His lectures are to be published both in English and Japanese.

¶¶We like the advertisement of the McBurney School in New York, which announces that it has, among other attractions, a 45,000 volume library. Most advertisements of prep schools mention nothing but the swimming pool and the gymnasium.

¶¶The medal of the Royal Society of Literature has been presented to Lytton Strachey for his biographical work. Sir Henry Newbolt made the presentation.

¶¶THE THIRD PART OF Sonnenschein's great compilations on "The Best Books" is to be published at once by Putnam's. This has been greatly delayed by the war. It is an indispensable book of reference for bookstores and libraries, and gives the first and last editions of every book, including price, size and publisher's name, with complete author and subject index. The work will be completed in four parts.

¶¶REPORTS from abroad on Papini's "Life of Christ" give a total of over 100,000 copies sold in Italy, 30,000 in France and a sixth edition in Great Britain.

¶¶BURTON J. HENDRICK, twice winner of the Pulitzer award for his biographical work, is now collaborating with Mrs. Gorgas on a life of General Gorgas, the man who made Panama development possible.

¶¶CHARLES E. LAURIAT COMPANY, the wellknown Boston retailers, is entering into the field of publishing by way of special books of interest to those who follow the history of the sea and ships. This firm has just issued "Old Ships of New England," a book with sixty large reproductions of old paintings, four of these in color. On August 15th, it issued "The Clipper Ship 'Sheila'" by Captain W. H. Angel. This is the story of the old days of clipper sailing ships, written by an English captain. In September, there will be published "Ship Models" by E. Keble Chatterton, a large volume with 120 illustrations and eight mounted plates in color. The book will be published in England by The Studio, and the edition is limited to a thousand numbered copies.

¶¶HENRY HOLT & COMPANY have reissued Lytton Strachey's "Literary Landmarks of French Literature," first published in the Home University Library, and Macmillan have another valuable guide to French literature entitled "French Literature During the Last Half Century" by J. W. Cunliffe and Pierre de Bacourt.

¶¶RUSSELL, Lang & Co., of Winnipeg, in conjunction with the Women's Canadian Club of Winnipeg, are publishing a book called "Women of Red River." This will serve as a record of the story of those brave souls who first ventured into that north country forty or fifty years ago. The book will be illustrated from rare old photographs and drawings and will be a valuable addition to any collection on Canadian pioneer history.

¶¶JESSE LAURISTON LIVERMORE and Edwin Lefevre, co-authors of "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator," bring equally interesting gifts to the task. Lefevre was for years a Wall Street editor and reporter, and has, of late years, specialized on writing stories of the "street." Livermore started to "trade" when he was a board boy at the age of fifteen and had accumulated $1,000 before his sixteenth He won birthday. so much from bucket shops they barred him. Eventually he made and lost several fortunes on the New York Exchange. All these ups and downs are portrayed in the book.