Description
Crump, Irving. The Boys’ Book of Firemen. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co,. ©1916)
DuoDecimo. 269 pages, illustrated with nine photographs. Hardcover with mustard-colored cloth-covered boards stamped in red and black, the front cover bearing the image (in a circle) of three firemen on a roof with two firehoses and surrounded by flames framed by two fire pikes.
Condition: VG with minor signs of use. One image has a spot of dirt on the edge of the page as shown in the photos. Hinges are solid, possibly repaired professionally as they are made of a different material than the end papers.
Scarce. WorldCat shows holdings in only 10 libraries in the world. Only one other copy found on the internet in a recent search in lesser condition and with a red cover.
James Irving Crump (b. Saugerties, New York: 7 December 1887 – d. Hackensack, New Jersey: 3 July 1979) – US author and editor of Boys’ Life for 25 years, 1915-1923 and 1935-?1952. He is known almost exclusively for his sequence of Young Adult Prehistoric SF novels, set in Europe and featuring the resourceful Neanderthal Og, who introduces fire to his tribe, fights off Dinosaurs and comports himself with commendable dignity throughout: Og – Son of Fire (December 1921-May 1922 Boys’ Life; exp 1922; rev into Big Little Book format, graph 1936), Og – Boy of Battle (October 1924-October 1925 Boys’ Life; 1925), Og of the Cave People (September 1933-June 1935 Boys’ Life; coll of linked stories 1935) and Og, Son of Og (first four episodes April 1954-May 1959 Boys’ Life; much exp 1965). Five further Og stories in Boys’ Life (1936-1936) did not reach book form. The first volume of the series was extended into Radio form for a 1934-1935 series (the Big Little Book version is derived in part from this version), and into a Comics form from 1936 in The Funnies (1936-1942). An unfortunate racism infects Crump’s presentation of an adjacent Apes as Human tribe described as black and inherently inferior. Mog the Mound Builder (1931) is set in the Americas, but is otherwise similar. The Cloud Patrol trio [see Checklist], an Airplane Boys series, is essentially nonfantastic, though it presents a typical image of the future being earned in the air. [JC/DRL] – sf-encyclopedia.com
