Description
Riley, James Whitcomb. A Child-World. (Bowen-Merrill: Indianapolis and Kansas City, 1897)
12mo. Bound in maroon cloth-covered boards with single-rule box on front cover with title and author in upper quadrant. Spine is decorative laid out with title and author’s last name at top, publisher at bottom. Binder was sloppy in this copy, main body of text jumps from page 200 to page 209, with the gathering containing pages 201-208 placed among the advertising. All edges trimmed, top edge gilt.
Points:
- Title page with single imprint. (Second state includes a London imprint)
- Proem is found on page ix instead of 15 as in index.
- Table of Contents labeled I, II, and III
- Half-Title at page xv
- Advertisement at page [224] of Nye’s A Guest at the Ludlow has the Bowen-Merrill, Indianapolis address present.
- Printed on laid paper with horizontal line marks, all edges trimmed.
Condition: As stated above, pages 201-208 are out of order, buried in the advertisements. Spine darkened, but front cover bright. Light bumping to corners. Inscription “Christmas 1897” on first free endpaper. Overall, a VG+ copy.
“James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the “Hoosier Poet” and “Children’s Poet” for his dialect works and his children’s poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man”.” – Wikipedia
