Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years: Number 150 of the publisher's signed, limited, and numbered issue of the first edition, an exceptional set in the original dust jackets
by Carl Sandburg
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Diego, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926. Signed, limited, and numbered issue of the first edition. Hardcover. This two-volume set is the publisher's signed, limited, and numbered issue of the first edition of Carl Sandburgs biography, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. Distinct from the trade edition, the publisher issued 260 copies on imported Dutch charcoal rag paper, numbered and signed by the author, of which 250 copies are for sale. Each set was hand-numbered in red on the half-title verso limitation statement, below which Sandburg signed in black.
This limited issue is bound in quarter cream buckram with paper spine labels over blue laid paper-covered boards. The contents, featuring untrimmed fore and bottom edges and gilt top edges, are bound with blue and yellow silk head and foot bands and endpapers of the same blue laid paper as the boards. Each volume was issued in a plain dust jacket of the same blue laid paper employed on the boards and endpapers. The publisher apparently issued the dust jackets with a 1.75 inch (4.45 cm) circular cutout on the upper spine, allowing the volumes paper spine label to be viewed beneath.
Condition of this set is noteworthy, featuring near fine volumes in the exceptionally scarce original dust jackets. The bindings are square, clean, and tight with sharp corners and no appreciable wear. The sole exterior defect is toning to both spine labels, consonant with the cutouts in the dust jackets; of note, each volume has a pristine, publisher-supplied replacement spine label tipped onto the terminal leaf. The contents of both volumes are immaculate, with no spotting, no previous ownership marks, bright gilt top edges, and modest age-toning apparent only to the otherwise clean fore and bottom edges. The dust jackets are noteworthy simply for being present. Both jackets have toned spines. The Volume Two jacket is substantially complete apart from fractional chipping to the spine ends. The Volume One jacket has a shallow strip loss at the spine head, trivial loss to the upper corners, and small tape reinforcements at both ends of the front hinge. Both jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers.
Equal parts biography, work of literature, and epic prose poem, Carl Sandburgs (1878-1967) monumental, multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln has been called the best-selling, most widely read, and most influential book[s] about Lincoln. Sandburg seemed an unlikely figure to write a biography of an American President. Sandburg was not a writer of prose, much less history. He was widely acclaimed for his poetry, which included Chicago Poems (1916) and Cornhuskers (1918), for which he received his first Pulitzer Prize in 1919.
Abraham Lincoln was a lifelong fascination for Sandburg, who collected information about the iconic President for decades before he began writing about him. These first two volumes, The Prairie Years, were published in 1926, a 344,000-word study covering Lincolns life up to his move to Washington to become the President of the United States.
Sandburgs work was heralded for its singular point of view. Historian Allan Nevins called it homely but beautiful, learned but simple, exhaustively detailed but panoramic unlike any other biography or history in the language. Another historian called The Prairie Years A poem of the human spirit, not Lincolns spirit only.
Sandburg had planned to stop writing about Lincoln after the publication of The Prairie Years. Nonetheless, for the next thirteen years he researched and wrote about the Presidents last four years. (NPS) The ultimate result was the four-volume Pulitzer-Prize winning biography Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, published in 1939.
There was also a publishers signed, limited, and numbered issue of The War Years, but more than twice as many sets were issued (525) as for The Prairie Years. Moreover, the signed, limited issue of The War Years was bound in less handsome though sturdier brown buckram. Hence, of the two sets, The Prairie Years is the more elusive, particularly in this condition.
This limited issue is bound in quarter cream buckram with paper spine labels over blue laid paper-covered boards. The contents, featuring untrimmed fore and bottom edges and gilt top edges, are bound with blue and yellow silk head and foot bands and endpapers of the same blue laid paper as the boards. Each volume was issued in a plain dust jacket of the same blue laid paper employed on the boards and endpapers. The publisher apparently issued the dust jackets with a 1.75 inch (4.45 cm) circular cutout on the upper spine, allowing the volumes paper spine label to be viewed beneath.
Condition of this set is noteworthy, featuring near fine volumes in the exceptionally scarce original dust jackets. The bindings are square, clean, and tight with sharp corners and no appreciable wear. The sole exterior defect is toning to both spine labels, consonant with the cutouts in the dust jackets; of note, each volume has a pristine, publisher-supplied replacement spine label tipped onto the terminal leaf. The contents of both volumes are immaculate, with no spotting, no previous ownership marks, bright gilt top edges, and modest age-toning apparent only to the otherwise clean fore and bottom edges. The dust jackets are noteworthy simply for being present. Both jackets have toned spines. The Volume Two jacket is substantially complete apart from fractional chipping to the spine ends. The Volume One jacket has a shallow strip loss at the spine head, trivial loss to the upper corners, and small tape reinforcements at both ends of the front hinge. Both jackets are protected beneath clear, removable, archival covers.
Equal parts biography, work of literature, and epic prose poem, Carl Sandburgs (1878-1967) monumental, multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln has been called the best-selling, most widely read, and most influential book[s] about Lincoln. Sandburg seemed an unlikely figure to write a biography of an American President. Sandburg was not a writer of prose, much less history. He was widely acclaimed for his poetry, which included Chicago Poems (1916) and Cornhuskers (1918), for which he received his first Pulitzer Prize in 1919.
Abraham Lincoln was a lifelong fascination for Sandburg, who collected information about the iconic President for decades before he began writing about him. These first two volumes, The Prairie Years, were published in 1926, a 344,000-word study covering Lincolns life up to his move to Washington to become the President of the United States.
Sandburgs work was heralded for its singular point of view. Historian Allan Nevins called it homely but beautiful, learned but simple, exhaustively detailed but panoramic unlike any other biography or history in the language. Another historian called The Prairie Years A poem of the human spirit, not Lincolns spirit only.
Sandburg had planned to stop writing about Lincoln after the publication of The Prairie Years. Nonetheless, for the next thirteen years he researched and wrote about the Presidents last four years. (NPS) The ultimate result was the four-volume Pulitzer-Prize winning biography Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, published in 1939.
There was also a publishers signed, limited, and numbered issue of The War Years, but more than twice as many sets were issued (525) as for The Prairie Years. Moreover, the signed, limited issue of The War Years was bound in less handsome though sturdier brown buckram. Hence, of the two sets, The Prairie Years is the more elusive, particularly in this condition.
Synopsis
The story of Lincoln's life from his inauguration in 1861 to his death and funeral in 1865. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History, 1940.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Churchill Book Collector (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 007380
- Title
- Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years
- Author
- Carl Sandburg
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Signed, limited, and numbered issue of the first edition
- Publisher
- Harcourt, Brace and Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1926
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Note
- May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.
Terms of Sale
Churchill Book Collector
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed.
About the Seller
Churchill Book Collector
Biblio member since 2010
San Diego, California
About Churchill Book Collector
We buy and sell books by and about Sir Winston Churchill. If you seek a Churchill edition you do not find in our current online inventory, please contact us; we might be able to find it for you. We are always happy to help fellow collectors answer questions about the many editions of Churchill's many works.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- Buckram
- A plain weave fabric normally made from cotton or linen which is stiffened with starch or other chemicals to cover the book...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Spine Label
- The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the...
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...