Between the Covers

Hardcover. First edition. Top corner a little bumped else near fine in very good or better dust jacket with a little age-toning and tiny nicks and tears. Inscribed by Upton Sinclair to Sinclair Lewis (using his nickname, Hal): "To Hal, How many strange things have happened in the world in the thirty-five years since fate brought us together. Upton. Xmas, 1941." The act of fate referred to was when Sinclair Lewis left Yale in 1906 to become a janitor at Upton Sinclair's ill-fated Helicon Hall colony.

Above the inscription is a penciled note initialed by author Lewis Browne, the final line of his note has been partially erased but is nevertheless readable and we include it here: "This volume was mailed to Sinclair Lewis c/o my address (we were lecture-touring together) and S.L. told me to keep it because he was traveling light [erased] - and didn't care for the book anyway. L.B." Presumably Browne erased the final line when he in turn gave the book away. On the tour, Lewis and Browne's were debating whether fascism was possible in the United States. A nicer than usual copy of this entry in Sinclair's Lanny Budd series, wartime Pulitzer Prize winner, uncommon in jacket, and with a wonderful association.

Item #468973