THE TOWN TRAVELLER.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, (1898). Original olive green cloth pictorially decorated in light green, black and red.
First American Edition, first state, issued in late September 1898 -- about a month after Methuen's London edition. Quite different from his earlier grim novels of social realism, this has been called a "mirthful" view of suburban life; the novel earned him more than almost all of his others. This American edition is generally regarded as the most decorative binding to be found on any of Gissing's English or American first editions (the design is by George Wharton Edwards, with his initials).
This copy is in the first state, with the printer's imprint at the bottom of the copyright page, and in the usual olive green cloth (a few were bound in blue, perhaps around 1904). It is in very good-plus condition, slightly rubbed at the extremities and with a faint damp-line on the rear cover. Coustillas A20.9a; Collie A20b (and plate 3); Spiers & Coustillas V3. Item #13609
Price: $150.00