The Army of God Knows Where

First edition. One sheet folded and ribbon tied to make four pages. Very light pencil name, light edgewear, still a just about fine copy of this attractively printed pamphlet. The only known copy of one of Damon Runyon's first separate publications, a poem printed by an asphalt company, and dedicated to "Our Civil Engineers." The poem originally appeared in the October 1908 issue of *Bohemian Magazine*. A report of this separate publication was printed in Volume XLII, the January-June 1912 *Municipal Engineering Index*. The poem is also reprinted in Runyon's first acknowledged book, *The Tents of Trouble*, a volume of poems in flexible boards published in 1911. His best known book, *Guys and Dolls*, was not published until 1931. Whether this volume precedes the poem's appearance in *The Tents of Trouble* (making this his first book), or follows that but precedes his next publication, *Rhymes of the Firing Line* (thus making this his second book), we are unable to determine. But we can locate no additional copies of this pamphlet, it is clearly rare and possibly unique.…