MARTIN EDEN.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1909. 10 pp undated ads. Original blue cloth decorated in light green. First Edition of this autobiographical tale of the sea, written while Jack and Charmian cruised to Hawaii and Tahiti on board their boat the "Snark." The printing consisted of 17,309 copies, considerably fewer than his earlier "big titles."
The cruise of the "Snark" was a sad illusion. It was begun to show off Jack's physical dominance, yet it ended in his physical collapse. It was meant as an escape from worry for seven years. In fact, it was all over in two years of financial disaster and growing obligations at home... In [any] event, MARTIN EDEN was a broken-backed book. While most of it dealt with the rise of the hero to fame and disillusionment with middle-class values, the end was despair, disgust, and abrupt suicide... The break occurred in November [1907], when Jack had nearly completed the book on the third leg of his journey to Tahiti. At that point, he seemed to have other plans for the ending, including Martin Eden's adventures in the South Seas. But finding himself forced to return to California because of his financial problems, he killed off Martin Eden... [Sinclair]
This is an unusually bright, close-to-fine copy (offset of frontispiece onto title page as usual); there are small cello-stains at the corners of the endpapers, but whatever was once held in place did its job, keeping the exterior virtually as new. Not many copies of MARTIN EDEN are currently "out there." Sisson & Martens p. 42; Blanck 11912. Item #15927
Price: $575.00