About this Item
This book is identified as the 'Authors Edition' on the copyright page. On the last page of the book is printed 'Colophon' and below that 'This Author's Edition is limited to 1000 copies of which this is No.' and next to that '71' is penned in red. I strongly suspect that this is also the First edition (NAP) because 1946 is the only date on the copyright page, and because the book was first published in 1946, and because there are several sellers with 1947 editions that they are identifying as '2nd revised editions.' There are no other copies for sale so, once listed, this will be the Only copy of the Limited edition, likely the Limited first edition, for sale anywhere on the Internet. Moreover, it is signed by the author (in blue ink) and his scruffy publisher (in the same red ink!) on the half-title page (see photo). The inscription reads 'To H.E. Williams from Bert Hamerstrom, friend of:' and that is where the dog's signature, in red, appears. Shame it wasn't inscribed to Clarence Darrow, What? Turns out Clarence Darrow was Albert Hamerstrom's brother-in-law, married to Albert's sister Ruby. I found that out by googling Albert's name. It brought up a book authored or edited by a Randall Tietjen titled In the Clutches of the Law: Clarence Darrow's Letters. While it didn't reference this book, it did state that Darrow's Albert Hamerstrom was born in 1884, the same year as the author. Same name, same birth year, I think Darrow would agree that that's some pretty convincing circumstantial evidence. More evidence, the reference in the book states that Hamerstrom was 'located in Seattle' and a memorial written about the author states that he was once a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. From a footnote in the Darrow book: 'Albert Hamerstrom (b.1884) was Ruby Darrow's youngest brother. In a letter from Ruby to Irving Stone 'Ruby described Bert as a wanderer. He apparently held a variety of jobs over the course of his life, including, as a young man, working and studying law in Darrow's office in approximately 1903. Later he worked for a railroad in San Francisco, as an advertising manager and reporter for newspapers, and as a salesman. According to Ruby, during the trial of William Haywood in 1907, he showed up in Boise, Utah "unannounced and unexpected" and stayed for much of the trial and then during the McNamara matter in Los Angeles "he again quite unexpectedly appeared" and Darrow "had him help with investigating." I should probably get around to describing the condition of the book: it's terrific. Take a look at the photos, the covers are very clean. There's a thin strip of light color fade on the front cover just adjacent to the middle edge, and a little bit on the spine. I don't see any soiling or staining on the covers. Both the gilt illustration and gilt and red lettering on the front cover are in excellent shape. On the spine the gilt lettering is a little faded in spots, but still quite legible. The edges and corners look absolutely perfect. Same with the spine ends. The page edges are very clean. The book is square and very solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout, and nicely tight covers as well. The pages are in terrific shape. They are exceptionally clean. I'm not seeing any soiling. I'm also not seeing any creasing. There are five full-page illustrations including the frontispiece, a few are drawings and a few are photographs. They are all on glossy paper and in perfect condition. There are smaller, quite nifty, illustrations throughout by Victor R. Anderson. There are no markings in the book. No attachments. And with the exception of the author's (and dog's?) signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere. And with that, I conclude my case. This book is guilty of being singularly unique and in excellent condition.
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