When You Were a Boy

Illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele. Small 8vo. Green cloth with gilt lettering and black, ivory and pale blue pictorial stamping. 302pp, (2pp ads). Tissue-guarded frontispiece, numerous small line drawings. Very good. Mild bit of binding edgewear, else internally tight and nice; charming nonauthorial 1905 gift inscription ("A reminder of / 'When you were a boy'.") on front flyleaf. Attractive first edition of this Huck Finn-ish boy's yarn, the third novel by this prolific boys' adventure story writer (1870-1954) -- with choice autograph addition: Tipped opposite half-title page is a Typed Letter Signed from Sabin, 1p, 7½" X 11", La Jolla, CA, 7 January 1940. Addressed to notable future Lincoln scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Near fine. On beige imprinted letterhead, Sabin writes graciously to an admirer: "Your birthday greetings and New Year good wishes to me (addressed to Hemet) are heartily appreciated. They came as it were out of the blue and bringing the blue. These messages when so spontaneous react on the sender and I have the feeling that 1940 is already stored with prosperous turns for both of us." Boldly signed in full. Sabin needed the pick-me-up, for his sales had plummeted during the Depression and he was forced to attempt a correspondence school for wannabee writers (which failed) and eventually he ended up returning to the cheaper town of Hemet. Most unusual.…