A BOY'S TOWN.
Described for "Harper's Young People". Illustrated. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. Original blue-green cloth elaborately decorated in silver and lettered in gilt
First Edition, first state, of Howells's tale of his own Ohio boyhood. The first state has the caption for the plate facing p. 110 erroneously describing the boys as celebrating "the Fourth" in the snow, and has the canal vignette on the verso of the Contents leaf -- later moved to p. 44).
This is a bright copy, just about fine (just a trace of wear at the extremities) of this attractively-bound book. Blanck 9654; Johnson High Spots p. 43 ("The boy's town is Hamilton Ohio and "the boy" is Howells. For boy life in America it helps to fill the gap in period between Tom Sawyer and Penrod."); Peter Parley to Penrod p. 92. Provenance: "oilwell" bookplate of the collector Frank L. Hadley. Item #15236
Price: $200.00