Galena Guide: First Edition (8 results)

Paperback. First Edition. Small 4to. Rebound in red cloth with gilt front board lettering (with original stiff blue pictorial front wrapper bound in). 79pp. Frontispiece, illustrations, linoleum-block engravings, small color foldout map at rear. Very good. Binding rather edgeworn and a bit rubbed, mainly along spine; original front wrapper and text block quite nice and tight; foldout map at rear bears some discreet archival mends on verso; mild ex-library with very few markings. Tight and decent first edition of this Federal Writers' Project city guide, long thought to have been written anonymously by the then-obscure young writer Nelson Algren (1909-81), who went on to far greater fame as the ?Poet of the Chicago Slums,? author of ?The Man with the Golden Arm? (1949) and other classic Chicago fiction. One of the most desirable of the WPA city guides. The Richard Delson plates are simple but striking and powerful; the often-absent color map at rear is bright and handsome. And while Jerre Mangione's "The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project 1935-1943 (1972) repeats Algren's exaggeration that he wrote the "Galena Guide," historian Richard F. Bales tackles this issue anew, relying on primary source material and close textual analysis in his essay "Who Wrote the Galena Guide?" (pp. 180-194 in his 2024 "Nelson Algren: His Life, Work and Colleagues") to persuasively settle the issue. He finds Algren's claim inaccurate and misleading, concluding that "Algren edited the the Guide, he even revised and rewrote the Guide." Deaccessioned from the library of the very city it celebrates. DYKES 81. …

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Two Federal Writers' Projects booklets for towns in Illinois, softcover, 1st edn, uncommon. Galena-79pps, photographs, f/o color map, 1937; and Rockford-144pps w/index, 1941, photos, brown type, VG copies. Sold as a lot.

Soft Cover. Condition: Very Good. First edition. Illustrated wrappers. 79pp (15). Compiled and Written by Federal Writers' Project (Illinois)/Works Progress Administration. Two maps in-text and a color folding map attached to the interior of the rear cover. An American Guide Series volume. Mangione states in his work, The Dream and the Deal (p121) that Nelson Algren, novelist of The Man With The Golden Arm "wrote most of the Galena Guide, one of the best of the small-town guidebooks in the American Guide Series." A bright and solid copy with some minor soiling. Dykes, #81. Very Good.…

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. VG+. Crackle-textured blue and gold wrappers. No ownership markings. 8vo. 79 pp. Frontis.; maps.; illus. [possibly woodcuts]; biblio.; an insert of photos on glossy page stock (23); color fold-out map. Also a year by year annals of notable historical events; and list of interviewee-informants. The attached color fold-out map is bright and free of tears with some tanning to backside/verso only. A few tanning spots to last glossy blank page. "The Galena Guide is first of a series of city guide books to be published in Illinois by the Federal Writer's Project" [WPA]. The novelist Nelson Algren was the main author of the text. The 18 woodcut illustrations by Robert Delson, including the frontispiece, are particularly accomplished. There is a small self-portrait of Delson on p. 10. Ships fast and securely with tracking.…

Paperback. First Edition. 8vo. Stiff blue pictorial wrappers. 79pp. Frontispiece, illustrations, linoleum-block engravings, small color foldout map at rear. Very good. Quite faint wear and age toning to outer wrappers (only), else internally tight and near fine. Nice first edition of this Federal Writers' Project city guide, long thought to have been written anonymously by the then-obscure young writer Nelson Algren (1909-81), who went on to far greater fame as the "Poet of the Chicago Slums," author of "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1949) and other classic Chicago fiction. One of the most desirable of the WPA city guides. The Richard Delson plates are simple but striking and powerful; the often-absent color map at rear is bright and handsome. And while Jerre Mangione's "The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project 1935-1943" (1972) repeats Algren's exaggeration that he wrote the "Galena Guide," historian Richard F. Bales tackles this issue anew, relying on primary source material and close textual analysis in his essay "Who Wrote the Galena Guide?" (pp. 180-194 in his 2024 "Nelson Algren: His Life, Work and Colleagues") to persuasively settle the issue. He finds Algren's claim inaccurate and misleading, concluding that "Algren edited the Guide, he even revised and rewrote the Guide." From the library of Terry J. Miller (1949-2025), long-time director of the U.S. Grant Home and Illinois State Historic Sites in Galena. DYKES 81.…

Paperback. Condition: Near Fine condition. First Edition. [Galena, Illinois]: The City of Galena / Works Progress Administration, 1937. A gorgeous copy that appears unread. Fine condition with just a tiny touch of age toning along the edge of the rear wrapper. Virtually NO wear. SEE PHOTOS. Bright, clean, and tight -- remarkably well-preserved. Sharp corners. The spine is square and flat. NOT a library discard. NO chips. NO tears. NO creases. NO owner's name or bookplate. Pages are creamy white, fresh and crisp -- apparently never read. NO foxing. NO underlining. NO highlighting. NO margin notes. Softcover. 6" wide by 9" tall. One of the scarcest titles in the American Guide Series. Mostly written by Nelson Algren. His third appearance in print. The color foldout map of Galena, Illinois is in perfect condition. Illustrated with maps and numerous woodcuts in the text, plus 23 photos on 15 plates on glossy paper. Bound in the original blue pictorial wraps, printed in blue and gold. Dykes 81. Powell 319. McCollum p43. Bruccoli B2. First Edition. Softcover. Near Fine condition. 79pp. + 15 pages of photographs. …

Softcover. Condition: Very Good+. First edition. 8vo. [6], 9-79, [1] pp. Blue paper wrappers printed in blue and gold. Illustrated with a frontispiece etching, several etched in-text and full-page designs, and around ten plates of black and white photographs at the end. A folding color map tipped in the rear. Part of the American Guide Series. Bruccoli B2. Compiled and written by Federal Writers' Project (Illinois) Works Progress Administration. Nelson Algren wrote eight chapters of this guide, including the section on U.S. Grant and the history of the town's economy. With interviews of the residents of Galena, and a blurb on the Native American burial grounds in the area. The history of Galena's mining and farming industries, and its natural history is also discussed. The guide has a brief history of Ulysses S. Grant and how he made his home in Galena. A historic guide to the legends, sights, and scenery of the charming town of Galena, IL. A touch of sunning to the spine and minor foxing to the verso of the final leaf of photographs.…

[ILLINOIS]. First edition. 8vo. Decorated wrappers, 79 [15] pp., maps including one folding in color affixed to inside rear wrapper, frontis., foreword, preface, general information, Galena bibliography, personal interviews. The first city guide book to be published in Illinois under the direction of the Works Progress Administration as represented by the Federal Writers' Project. Galena is in the northwest corner of Illinois six miles below the Wisconsin border and four miles from the Mississippi River. At one time it was a boom town, but the coming of railroads diverted its river traffic to Chicago and foreign competition killed its lead and zinc enterprises. An interesting and informative booklet that is scarce today. Not stated, but this is mostly the work of Nelson Algren. Fine copy. DYKES 81. POWELL 319.…