About this Item
53p duodecimo limited edition #25 of 100. A crisp, clean copy, near fine, in the publisher's limp suede, quite well-preserved, with a handsome contemporary bookplate to the front paste-down. In a tattered dust jacket, in pieces and missing the spine; poor. A pleasing association copy, SIGNED and INSCRIBED by Kozlay on the front free endpaper to noted bibliographer Merle Johnson: "To Merle Johnson from Charles Meeker Kozlay." This is number 25 of 100 limited copies hand-numbered on the copyright page (the signature is not called for). Laid in is an autograph letter from Harte in his notoriously inscrutable hand. The letter, folded to about 4.5" x 7", is in very good condition, with two punch holes at the top, affecting a couple of letters, but not the readability of the letter. It was evidently hinged along the top at one point, and there is some residue left over. Still very good. Near fine in poor dust-jacket. Flexible boards. Merle Johnson was an important bibliographer. Per the brief biography on the page of the New York Public Library, which retains his papers: "His identification of first issues of works by American authors and his bibliographical research established him as the leading authority on American books from 1835 to 1935, especially those published after 1870." These publications earned him a reputation as the leading figure of this world before Jacob Blanck compiled the Bibliography of American Literature in the 1940s. Johnson's "American First Editions," published in 1932, contains a section on Harte, and he includes this book in that list, persumably having used this very copy to inform the entry. Kozlay, for his part, was a leading collector of Bret Harte; his collection of nearly 400 Harte items was sold at auction in 1926 to much fanfare. Our modest attempts to determine the letter's addressee, as well as the its relationship to the book, were not all that successful. Our suspicion is that, since Kozlay retained so many Bret Harte letters, he likely enclosed one of these when presenting the book to Merle Johnson, a person to whom he would be no doubt inclined to ingratiate himself. After all that good stuff about the association, a little about the book itself. This collection is also known for being the first appearance in print of Mark Twain's famous "Letter on John Camden Hotten," an Englishman who pirated some of Twain's works. See BAL 3510 (Twain) and 7407 (Harte). Our feeble attempt at deciphering the letter follows: "22. Oct / 84." M. K. McClure Dear Sir: I have received from Washington Express 3 sets duplicates [sic] of [series?] of 'A Waif of the Plains,' with the request that I should [??] them all and [??] them to that office. I have done so, but I must remind you that, [alike?] I propose to [??] the authors [??] proofs and revises. I cannot [???] to [???] [????] which can easily be copied per my connecting by by anyone in your office. Yours very truly, Bret Harte." The book is uncommon, and we have not traced any presentation copies in commerce since 1948. A fantastic association, to boot. (13662).
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