The Book of the Homeless

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916.

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Hardcover. First edition, deluxe limited issue. Folio. Cloth and papercovered boards. Decorations by Rudolph Ruzicka. Preface by Edith Wharton. Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt. Contributions by Sarah Bernhardt, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, and others. Includes illustrations by Charles Dana Gibson, Leon Bakst, Monet, Renoir, and others. Publisher's prospectus laid in. Printed by D.B. Updike at The Merrymount Press. This is copy number 7 of 50 copies printed in a larger format than the trade edition and Signed by the printer D.B. Updike. This issue of 50 copies was issued with an additional suite of plates and with four facsimiles of manuscripts tipped-in. As is inevitable, this copy lacks the separate suite of plate, which are very rarely found with the book (we've never seen a copy with the suite). About fine, without the original unprinted glassine dustwrapper and original cardboard slipcase. Rare.

Item #461312

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Item #461312 The Book of the Homeless. Edith WHARTON.
The Book of the Homeless

Edith Wharton
birth name: Edith Newbold Jones
born: 1/24/1862
died: 8/11/1937
nationality: USA

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Biography

American author best known for her stories and novels about the upper-class society into which she was born. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literaturemore

Collecting tips:

Her first book, Verses (published by her parents when she was 16 in 1878) is a great rarity. If you find one, call me up, so we can begin negotiating about the location of the new house I'll be buying for you. However, if you are going to wait to find a copy before you find a place to live, you might as well pay for it yourself, as they don't turn up very often. She has three avidly sought after novels: Ethan Frome (1911), The House of Mirth (1905), and The Age of Innocence (1920), all of which will set you back if you have to have them in jacket (yes, they all came with jackets originally). Her first regularly published book, The Decoration of Houses (1897, co-written with architect Ogden Codman, Jr.) is something of a classic in its field, and the easily worn marbled paper-covered boards make it difficult to find in reasonably fine condition, although copies in middling condition turn up occasionally. Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904) is prized not only by Wharton collectors, but also by fans of Maxfield Parrish, who contributed the illustrations. The book was reprinted several times, and fine copies of the first edition are getting scarce, but are still occasionally obtainable for a not-too-unreasonable price.

Email us to request a printed copy of our catalog of Edith Wharton Rare Books and First Editions (or download it via the link as a 3.51 MB pdf file).

We also offer a comprehensive Edith Wharton Bibliography and Price Guide.more