Jack Racer.

Mary Gay Humphreys (1843-1915) was a journalist and author from Ohio. She also served as a nurse during the Civil War. Her writing was published in periodicals such as Harper’s Bazaar and Scribner’s Sons. In addition to journalism, she wrote several novels using various pen-names. Under the pseudonym Elinor Gray she co-authored Skillful Susy: A Book of Fairs and Bazars which reviewed household craft-work. Humphreys later published Jack Racer under the name Henry Somerville. The news believed Henry Somerville to be an Ohio-native working in the newspaper business: a biography not far off from Humphrey’s own. Octavo. ix. 429 pp. Includes decorations on title page and throughout by Anne Goldthwaite. Publisher’s tan dust jacket with title in red. Minor tear to second leaf near head of spine. Light damp stain to upper margin. Clean throughout. A very, tight good copy. Advertisement for “new fiction,” including the present work, laid in. First edition. Rare in commerce, especially in dust jacket. Jack Racer follows the titular character, an Illinois lawyer who runs for political office. Jack is also a ladies-man and the novel chronicles his flirtations. His political success is halted when his romantic relationships become suspect. According to a contemporary review from the Los Angeles Evening Press, the novel contains “clever character sketches” and “is tainted with so ambitious a root of aspiration as politics.” Los Angeles Evening Press. Reviews of New Books. Sept. 21, 1901.…