THE VOICE OF THE CITY. Further Stories of the Four Million.
New York: The McClure Company, 1908. 1 page undated ads. Original red cloth.
First Edition, first printing (with only the endpaper following the ad leaf), first binding (with "McClure" rather than "Doubleday, Page & Co." at the foot of the spine). This was O. Henry's third volume of 25 very short stories about the people of New York City -- following THE FOUR MILLION (1906) and THE TRIMMED LAMP (1907). He had settled there among the four million residents in 1902, after his three-year imprisonment in Texas for bank embezzlement.
This is a close-to-fine copy (no wear, and only a little of the unavoidable spine-fading) -- and is uncommon in this condition. Blanck 16275. Provenance: endpaper signature of Nelson Dwight Phelps, dated in Oakland in July 1908, and (appropriately) bearing the bookseller's label of Paul Elder & Company of San Francisco. Item #15585
Price: $200.00