Ships Broken by Constance Wright, First Edition (4 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. First Edition. A Good copy (owner's name) in beige cloth lettered and decorated in red, tanned/dulled at the spine. Tanning/foxing at the outer edges and endpapers, sound binding, clean within. A sound reading copy of the 1938 first edition, and not ex-library. No dust jacket. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good dj. First American Edition. [clean, solid copy with minimal shelfwear; jacket has some very shallow chipping along the top edge, a couple of tiny tears and associated creasing at bottom edge of front panel] A novel set against the background of the international opium trade in the 1830s. The author "pictures life in the native quarters, aboard the fast-sailing opium clippers, in the English and American business houses in Canton where the young men were hopeful Anthony Adverses, and the women were scarce -- none of them allowed nearer than the Portuguese port of Macao. Eccentric missionaries, epicurean merchants, sea captains, and supercargoes, and one or two women of rich personality, are presented with all the vividness of the unusual and exciting world in which they figure." Originally published in England in 1937; one British reviewer noted that "in the old records of the East India Company and the archives of the early American traders, [the author] has discovered a vein of the authentic stuff of which good yarns are spun, and she has spun one of the best," further lauding the book for "breathing the very spirit of adventure and romance, [and being written] in a style remarkable for its mastery of detail.".

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. London: Dent. 1937. 8vo. First edition. Publisher's black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the alluring dust jacket signed indistinctly. The publisher's retained copy with 'file copy' stamp beneath front flap, hole-punched 'file copy' at half-title, title page and second title, else a very good or better copy, the cloth clean and bright, the binding tight and gently rolled, with faint vertical crease to backstrip. The contents clean and fine throughout barring a file reference 'J-2' in ink to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (7s 6d net) and complete, gently nicked along the spine tips and corners, two discreet tape repairs to the verso. Some light rubbing, but a striking volume. The author's second novel, 'a long novel re-creating with minute fidelity' the dangerous opium trade of the early part of the nineteenth century. Wright was an American author with no first-hand knowledge of the trade or the Canton setting, but contemporary reviews acclaim her attention to detailshe 'eschews sensation for the sake of historical accuracy' (The Age, Nov 13 1937). 'Eccentric missionaries, epicurean merchants, sea-captains, super-cargoes, and one or two women of rich personality' drive the plot. Uncommon in the jacket.

First Edition stated. "Life in the native quarters, aboard the fast sailing opium clippers, in the English and American business houses in Canton. Eccentric missionaries, epicurean merchants, sea captains, and supercargoes are presented with all the vividness of the unusual and exciting world in which they figure. The time of the dangerous opium trade one hundred years ago". Near Fine in nearly Very Good dustjacket, chipped at top spine end, half inch clipped at edge of front flap (not affecting text).