Viola Helms (1 results)

THE SILVER DOLLAR - Viola Helms - 1960 First Edition - With Author's Obituary Clipping & Ownership Signature of Her Niece Author Helms, Viola Description New York: Exposition Press, 1960. First edition, first printing (no additional printings noted). Octavo, original dark blue cloth, silver dollar design and lettering in silver on front board, 286 pp. An uncommon southern gothic novel set around a fictional town on a big lake in South Haven - Helms's only published book and a true vanity-press rarity. Laid in is the original 1960 newspaper obituary of Viola Helms (the author), clipped from the local South Haven paper and pasted to the front pastedown (as shown). On the front free endpaper is the early ownership signature "Pat Wheeler" - Patricia Wheeler, Viola Helms's niece, who inherited many of the author's personal copies. Condition: Good (dust jacket, as issued by Exposition Press) ? Binding tight and square, silver stamping bright. ? Light rubbing to extremities and a few tiny stains to cloth. Dust jacket with wear, and small tears. Age appropriate for vintage. ? Interior clean; the obituary clipping has caused typical light offsetting and a couple of small tape ghosts to the pastedown, and 2nd column lost to time. ? No loose pages. Please see photos for details on condition. All condition may not be named but are visible in the photographs. A genuine 1960s small-press curiosity with excellent provenance - essentially as close to an author's-family copy as one is likely to find. Fewer than a dozen copies have appeared for public sale in the last 20 years.