Edwin Markham and The Man With The Hoe

Trial copy No.13, signed by Bernhardt Wall and Edwin Markham on the limitation page. This copy inscribed to Mrs. Jean Hale, Mrs Gladys Taylor and Rosamund (Jean Hale was Edwin Markham's secretary, and all three are mentioned in the "Etcher's Notes" plate in the book). The inscription is signed by Bernhardt Wall, dated Feb. 25, 1937, Houston, Texas, "from our winter etcherie". Plain brown boards with an imprinted etching on the upper front board, green cloth tape-covered spine, 13 x 1/ 1/4 inches, unpaginated, 34 leaves (excluding blanks at front and rear), 34 etchings/plates (including the limitation page), most etchings signed by Wall. Includes etched plates of the text of Markham's Man With The Hoe. No dustcover. Fine. Rare indeed (3 OCLC copies). "Bernhardt Wall (1872–1956) was a Connecticut Yankee who wintered in La Porte, Texas, his wife's family home, for many years. In the mid-1930s he produced at least three books of copper-plate engravings during his annual Texas sojourns: Following General Sam Houston, 1793–1863 (1935), Following Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas (1936), and Following Andrew Jackson (1937). The process was so tedious and time-consuming that the editions were always severely limited; however, these are the finished work of a well-rounded artisan. Wall wrote his books, designed them, etched the plates, printed and signed each etching, then cut, folded, gathered, sewed, bound, lettered, and labeled them. After his wife's death in 1938, Wall, like the horseman in his colophon, rode away-back to Connecticut, where he later remarried. He lived his own last years in Sierra Madre, California." (1722RO091). …