THE CALL of THE WILD with First Issue Dustjacket

Early Heinemann printing of London’s classic Klondike novel, complete with all 17 illustrations. About the Book - The Call of the Wild was first published in 1903 by William Heinemann in London (and by Macmillan in New York). It is London’s breakthrough novel, the story that established him as a major writer of his generation. The book follows Buck, a domesticated St. Bernard–Scotch Collie dog who is stolen from his comfortable Californian home and sold into the brutal life of an Alaskan sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush. Through hardship, violence, and survival, Buck reconnects with his primal instincts and ultimately answers “the call of the wild.” It is not only an adventure story but also a meditation on nature vs. civilization, the survival of the fittest, and the deep instincts that live beneath human (and animal) culture. How London Came to Write It The Klondike Gold Rush (1897): At 21, Jack London travelled to the Yukon Territory, lured by the promise of fortune during the Klondike Gold Rush. Though he found little gold, he gained something far more valuable for his writing — raw experience of the frozen wilderness, survival against the odds, and the resilience of both men and animals. First-hand hardship: London endured extreme cold, scarcity of food, and grueling labour. He witnessed the suffering of sled dogs and the unyielding determination of prospectors, scenes that burned into his imagination. Illness and return home: London contracted scurvy in the Yukon and was forced to return to California in 1898. Physically weakened, he nonetheless carried home powerful memories, which became the material for his fiction. Shaping the novel: He first wrote several Yukon tales (To Build a Fire, An Odyssey of the North, Diable—A Dog), but with The Call of the Wild,  he wove these themes into a longer, more ambitious narrative. The book was serialised in The Saturday Evening Post  in June 1903, then published as a single volume by Macmillan in the U.S. and by Heinemann in the U.K. Why It Resonates London tapped into both the myth of the frontier and a more universal theme — the deep pull of instinct, the idea that beneath civilisation lies something untamed, vital, and true. For readers in the early 20th century, this captured both the excitement of exploration and the anxieties of a rapidly industrialising world. This Copy Publisher: William Heinemann, London, 1904 - Edition: An early reprint, following the first edition of July 1903. Copyright 1903, Jack London. “Set up, Electrotyped, and published July 1903. Reprinted July; August, September, December 1903: January, March 1904.” Illustrations: Complete with all 17 full-page illustrations by Chas. Edw. Hooper. Format: Hardback, decorated cloth with gilt lettering to spine and front board (bright and sharp). Decorated endpapers, rough-cut pages, 231 pp. 16mo (small octavo). Approx 7¾ inches x 5¼ inches x just over 1 inch. Condition: Light soiling to boards. Cloth frayed at spine head and foot. Small scuff to inner front board. Binding tight. All pages present and firmly bound. Light foxing in places, commensurate with age. Gilt lettering remains bright and in excellent condition. Dust Jacket: Supplied in a high-quality facsimile of the rare original first printing from 1903, Heinemann dust jacket, for protection and presentation. Collector’s Note Unlike the American first edition (Macmillan, 1903), which was issued without illustrations, the Heinemann UK edition was enhanced with 17 striking plates by Charles Edward Hooper — making it a more visually engaging and desirable presentation of London’s classic. A handsome and well-preserved early Heinemann printing of London’s Klondike masterpiece — scarce in this condition and complete with all illustrations. A cornerstone of early 20th-century literature. END.…