New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941.
Price: $75.00
Hardcover. First edition. Tall octavo. xxi, 777pp. Light general wear, corners and spine ends worn through, a bright very good copy, lacking the dust jacket. Nicely Inscribed by Cargill on the front fly: "To Jim who has three times saved this book Oscar Cargill." Laid in is an illustrated letter dated June 24, 1941, two illustrated notes, and one additional illustration. Three of the four illustrations are a take on St. George and the dragon, in which the dragon appears to be the book. In a large drawing from May 23, 1941 the dragon has St. George in his talons, the knight's sword broken, but in the illustrated letter dated June 24, in which Cargill thanks Jim effusively for his service and speaks of his humble but unshakable hope in the book, St. George stands victorious over the Worm. Alas, in a December 1 illustrated note, Cargill writes "Well, I got my *Books* review, didn't I?" The illustration is of a tombstone engraved "O.C. defunct Dec 1 1941." Although we have been unable to discover the identity of Jim, a charming copy of this mid-Century piece of cultural and literary criticism.
Item #604624
