Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Thornton Wilder. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert and Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$6.03 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: 1927. Fifth Printing. 235 pages. No dust jacket. Grey cloth. Contains black and white illustrations throughout. Pages are moderately tanned and foxed throughout. Pencil inscription to front endpaper and half title page. Half title page - illustration contents are loose but just attached. Visible creasing to gutter. Cracking to gutters, with exposed netting. Boards have moderate edge-wear with bumping to corners and rubbing to surfaces. Soft crushing to spine ends. Heavy tanning to spine and edges. Visible black marks and scratches overall.
Seller: World of Rare Books, Goring-by-Sea, SXW, United Kingdom
Thornton Wilder. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$8.05 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 1929 Illustrated edition with 16 woodcuts pasted in. No dustjacket. Some wear to boards . Spine sun-bleached and top and bottom have worn off. Binding still sound. Internally clean and slightly tanned. 16 woodcuts attached.
Seller: CloudDreamer, LONDON, United Kingdom
Wilder, Thornton. BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY, THE. Albert & Charles Boni, N.Y., 1927.
Price: US$12.50 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 235 pp. Illus. by Amy Drevenstedt.
Seller: Austin Book Shop LLC, Richmond Hill, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$18.24 + shipping
Description: 235 S. m. 10 s/w.-Illustrationen Zustand: Mittelmäßig. Es handelt sich um einen ausgesonderten Bibliotheksband mit entfernter Verleihliste. Im Text einige Bleistiftmarkierungen bzw. -bemerkungen. - Die Illustrationen stammen von Amy Drevenstedt. Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 278 8° (19,5cm), Gln., Kopffarbschnitt
Seller: Antiquariat ExLibris Erlach Eberhard Ott, Ochsenfurt - Erlach, BY, Germany
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Mauve pictorial cl., black lettering w. green illus., sm. spot toward bottom. Backstr. black lettering w. green colophon. Dj. in pieces, some edges shredded. Illus. endpapers. Frontis. Illus. w. plates. 235pp. on heavy paper.
Seller: Cragsmoor Books, Cragsmoor, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$41.22 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Type: Book Leading edge scuffed, otherwise fine.
Seller: Strawberry Hill Books, Rotherfield, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Mild soiling, bumping and edgewear to pinkish tan cloth. Shaken binding and clean text. Page edges mild soiling, interior some browning. Small label remnant on ffep, small bookshop label on rear pastedown. No ownership marks, ex-lib marks or stamps. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 235 pages
Seller: Old Editions Book Shop, ABAA, ILAB, North Tonawanda, NY, U.S.A.
WILDER, Thornton.. The Bridge of San Luis Rey.. Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Description: 235 pp. Illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. 8vo, original cloth. First edition. 1927 ownership signature on half-title; very shaken; a few light spots and use to the cloth.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Facsimile Edition. Book is gorgeous in a like dust jacket, which has a very minor scuff to the bottom of the spine. Housed in fine publisher's slipcase. Text is clean and unmarked. This is a gorgeous, facsimile of the true first edition. Scarce. 8vo 8" - 9" tall.
Seller: Sleuth Books, FABA, Palm Coast, FL, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert and Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Description: Beige cloth. 235pp. Spine slant, else a clean, tight, VG+ copy. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: D. Richards, Bookman, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 235pp. Tan cloth boards, titles in black on spine and front board. Green decorative element on front board. No dust jacket. Binding tight, spine straight, corners solid. Mild wear to spine ends and corners. Map inset endpapers. Pages evenly toned but otherwise clean and unmarked. Illustrations by Amy Drevenstedt.
Seller: The Chatham Bookseller, Madison, NJ, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey.. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: Early printing of the author's masterpiece and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. "Few novels identify their basic plotline as succinctly and forthrightly as the opening line of Thornton Wilderâs 1927 novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey: âOn Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.â The novelâs conceit is this: a certain Brother Juniper was himself about to step out onto the bridge when it broke and subsequently witnessed the plunge of five people into the abyss below. Brother Juniper wonders if the tragedy happened according to a divine plan or was simply a random instance of misfortune. His curiosity leads him to investigate the lives of the five victims to prove that the bridge collapse and the resulting deaths were indeed divine interventionâ"that God intended for them to die then and there. But, of course, the point of the novel is that there is no commonality among them, other than the fact that they are all simply human, with their own frailties. Wilder ends his at-once urgent and serene novel with this haunting passage: âBut soon we shall die and all memory of these five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning" (Brad Hooper). "One of the greatest reading novels in this century's American writing.Wonderfully lucid reading" (Edmund Fuller). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and named by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Best English-language novels from 1923-2005.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
WILDER, THORNTON. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY. Albert Charles Boni, NY, 1927.
Price: US$149.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: FIRST EDITION COPY MARRIED WITH AN UNCLIPPED DJ (9TH P[RINTING). SEVERAL SMALL EDGE CHIPS TO DJ.
Seller: Gian Luigi Fine Books, albany, NY, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Printing. Facsimile dustjacket is as new. Date of 1927 on title and copyright pages with no indication of later printings. Title page in black and green. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Book has light wear to corners and spine ends. Ten black and white illustrations by Amy Drevenstedt. Book is protected in a custom cut clear mylar cover. All books are carefully wrapped and shipped in a box.
Seller: Cahill Rare Books, Mission Viejo, CA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 235pp.; HB REBOUND; quarter-bound; green&white design w/green&gilt; slight rub w/clean,tight pgs. Illustrated classic.
Seller: Xochi's Bookstore & Gallery, truth or consequences, NM, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$189.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition, sixteenth printing (1928). The fact that the 16th printing was issued within 10 months of the first is an excellent measure of the immediate and widespread popularity of this title. DJ and illustrations by Amy Drevenstedt. Prior owner's bookplate and bookseller's label pasted down on FEP. Initial sale price intact, but covered by Christmas sticker. Protected in an archival wrapper. More images and/or description can be sent on request. Condition: Very Good+ in a Very Good+ DJ.
Seller: Ironwood Books, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, NY, 1927.
Price: US$270.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover, first edition, with the Title page printed in green and black . Book is VG to VG +, with evidence of some tape / dust jacket adhering to the FEP. Covers are clean and bright, no writing or bookplates to interior of the book. The Dustjacket has had some repairs / replacement of the interior front flap. Winner of the PULITZER PRIZE IN FICTION IN 1928.
Seller: The Kings Word, Marietta, GA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$288.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 235p.
Seller: J. Lawton, Booksellers, Readville, MA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge Of San Luis Rey. Albert and Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Eleventh printing from September 1928 signed by Wilder on the title page. Owners name and date inked on the ffe. A worn copy in a worn jacket with the original price of $2.50 on the flap. Later state jacket with loss to spine ends, tears, and chips. The spine of the book itself is worn and the cloth is moderately soiled.
Seller: Ink, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni 1927, New York, 1927.
Price: US$322.07 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. 235 pp. Bound in a recent half dark green morocco over green marbled boards. Raised bands to spine with gilt lettering. Top edge gilt. The original endpapers have been preserved. Several b/w illustrations. Wilder's second novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 8vo.
Seller: Foster Books - Stephen Foster - ABA, ILAB, & PBFA, London, United Kingdom
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927, 1927.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: 1st edition, first printing, of this classic novel, which won the author the first of his three Pulitzer Prizes Near fine/very good (the dj, which is not price-clipped, has a half-inch chip at the top of the spine and some smaller chips elsewhere)
Seller: Reed's Rare Books, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Description: Handsomely bound in finely woven brown cloth embossed in green on the front boards; and stamped brightly in black and green ink on the spine. Very clean and tight throughout. With the merest hint of wear to the extremities. In a striking pictorial dust jacket with the original price of $2.50 at the top of the front flap. With 2 pinky-sized pieces missing at the top left-hand corner of the front panel and at the bottom of the spine end. With a 3" loss of paper along the top of the rear panel taking out the word "Wilder". With a signed card: "Thornton Wilder (underscored) Milan. Italy. Feb. 1964." written in bold black ink. The Bridge of San Luis Reyis American authorThornton Wilder's second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of anInca rope bridgeinPeru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge. A friar who has witnessed the accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. The novel won thePulitzer Prizein 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Thornton Niven Wilder(1897 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won threePulitzer Prizesfor the novelThe Bridge of San Luis Rey, and for the playsOur TownandThe Skin of Our Teeth and a U.S.National Book Awardfor the novelThe Eighth Day. (Wikipedia) First Edition with matching dates of 1927 on the title and copyright pages; no subsequent printings listed.
Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.
WILDER, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (w/Signed Bookplate). Albert & Charles Boni, NY, 1927.
Price: US$796.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: The true first trade edition with the title page printed in green and black. Books shows a bit of shelf wear to bottom edge. Fitted with a later state dustwrapper (published in 1928) that maintains the $2.50 price but has a list of four books on the back panel that were published by Boni in that year). The book is tight and clean and the dustwrapper shows well in mylar. Signed by the author on a bookplate that is laid in . . .
Seller: Michael J. Toth, Bookseller, ABAA, Springtown, PA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 235pp.; HB beige w/green&blk.-pic.cover; some rub w/lt.wear on edges; ft.endpapers to illus.pg. detaching,otherwise clean,tight pgs. DJ -facsimile-blue w/blk.-pic.cover; rubbed w/wear on edges&corners; spine sunned; chps&tears. Includes card signed & inscribed to Elinor Randall by Wilder.
Seller: Xochi's Bookstore & Gallery, truth or consequences, NM, U.S.A.
Price: US$825.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo (20.75cm.); original tan decorative cloth embossed in green and black, green topstain, green pictorial dust jacket; 235pp.; map endpapers, frontispiece & text illus. throughout. Jacket extremities chipped and rubbed with small loss to top edge of upper panel affecting the title's "THE," additional loss to top edge of rear panel not affecting text; spine rather toned, jacket verso with substantial tape repair; cloth a bit rubbed, textblock shaken, else Near Very Good in Good or better jacket. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1927).
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni - New York, 1927.
Price: US$895.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Tan cloth on boards with stamped line drawing and titling in black and dark green to front and titling and publishers logo to spine. Book is tight, square, relatively sharp-cornered and free of major flaws or markings, inside and out, other than some very minor bubbling to spine. Book inside is spotless, other than the warm inscription from author - "To Margaret Beck, with all the best wishes of Thornton Wilder, Lawrenceville, June 1928" to title page. Top edge dyed gray, beautiful illustrations throughout including frontispiece by Amy Drevenstedt.
Seller: Barberry Lane Booksellers, Bar Harbor, ME, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927, 1927.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Description: 1st edition, first printing, in first state dj Very good plus/very good (an unusually nice copy of this Pulitzer Prize winner; the book is clean and tight, with no writing inside and beautiful endpapers; the dj is not price-clipped; a small chip had become detached at the top of the spine and has been professionally re-attached; because it was not subject to the same slight browning as the rest of the spine, the colors do not quite match; there are small chips at the bottom of the spine and bottom front corner)
Seller: Reed's Rare Books, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: SIGNED First Edition. (1st printing with title page dated 1927 and no additional printings on copyright page.) Inscribed by Thornton Wilder on title page inscribed to "Dorothy, with the friendship of her devoted neighbor [signed] Thornton Hemden [?]February 1958." Very Good+ in publisher's cloth with light shelf wear, hinge cracked but holding at p. 30. Lacking jacket. Rare as a signed first.
Seller: Singing Saw Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY. Albert & Charles Boni: NY, 1927.
Price: US$1150.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illus. by Amy Drevenstedt, 8.25 x 5", pict cloth, 235pp, covers rubbed and finger soiled, extremities bumped and fraying, pp toned, a couple of tiny spots on edges of textblock else a decent copy of the FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, THORNTON WILDER.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good in jacket null Book very good or better with no marks or bookplates. In scarce, original jacket with chipping to spine ends that does not affect text.
Seller: Graver & Pen Rare Books, Midland, MI, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing SIGNED by Thornton Wilder on the front free endpaper. The book is bound in the publisher's cloth and is in great shape with minor wear to the boards. The pages are clean, with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. A lovely copy SIGNED by the author.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey.. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the author's masterpiece and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation. "Few novels identify their basic plotline as succinctly and forthrightly as the opening line of Thornton Wilderâs 1927 novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey: âOn Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.â The novelâs conceit is this: a certain Brother Juniper was himself about to step out onto the bridge when it broke and subsequently witnessed the plunge of five people into the abyss below. Brother Juniper wonders if the tragedy happened according to a divine plan or was simply a random instance of misfortune. His curiosity leads him to investigate the lives of the five victims to prove that the bridge collapse and the resulting deaths were indeed divine interventionâ"that God intended for them to die then and there. But, of course, the point of the novel is that there is no commonality among them, other than the fact that they are all simply human, with their own frailties. Wilder ends his at-once urgent and serene novel with this haunting passage: âBut soon we shall die and all memory of these five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning" (Brad Hooper). "One of the greatest reading novels in this century's American writing.Wonderfully lucid reading" (Edmund Fuller). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and named by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Best English-language novels from 1923-2005.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt, with frontispiece and nine illustrations. First edition, first printing. Inscribed by Wilder on title page: "Eliz. and Ina / devotedly / Thornton / New York 1959." Publisher's light brown cloth, front board decorated in green, lettered in black, pictorial endpapers illustrated with a decorative map of Peru. Good or better book, with significant damage and toning to head of spine, light rubbing to corners, a couple of light bumps to board edges, previous owner's bookplate tipped in between front flyleaf verso and half-title page, and a touch of soiling to front free endpaper, pages otherwise fresh and clean; good unclipped dust jacket, with some toning to spine and extremities, some chipping to panel edges and head of spine, tape reinforcement to jacket verso, light chipping along front flap fold, and a small mark on pen to rear panel. Overall, a bright inscribed copy of Wilder's classic novel. Winner of the 1928 Pulitzer Prize, The Bridge of San Luis Rey tells the story of the fictional collapse of an Inca-made rope bridge in Lima, Peru, at noon on Friday, July 20, 1714. The novel is divided into five sections, each of which explores the bridge collapse from different perspectives; the first and last sections recount the event and its memorial as well as Franciscan monk Brother Juniper's six-year effort to chronicle the stories of the 5 victims of the collapse, while sections 2-4 flashback to the victims' lives and the events that led up to their deaths. In addition to being one of his most popular texts, The Bridge of San Luis Rey is credited with establishing Wilder as an important American writer.
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
WILDER, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. Boards with some overall uniform light soiling and edgewear, thus very good or a bit better in good only dustwrapper with amateur tape repair to the inside of the jacket, toning and moderate edgewear. Housed in an older worn drop front custom case. Inscribed by the author: "For Dick - With all the best wishes of Thornton Wilder." Wilder's best-known novel, a carefully interwoven story of a priest's attempt to find divine providence in the collapse of an 18th century Peruvian bridge. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The first edition is uncommon inscribed.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
WILDER, Thornton. The Bridge Of San Luis Rey.. NY: Albert & Charles Boni, 1927., 1927.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: FIRST EDITION PRESENTATION COPY. 1 vol., illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt, inscribed on the title-page "Amicus Amicis hoc erat in votis Thorny to Eliz-Ira-Sus-Judy New York April 17 . 1959." Publisher's original smooth tan binding, titlepage printed in green and black, with the original DJ, not price clipped, some minor chipping to upper edges not affecting text, NEAR FINE/VG-
Seller: D&D Galleries - ABAA, Somerville, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illustrated cloth with lettering and detail stamped in green and black on spine; illustrated dust jacket. Inscribed and dated (March 1929) on the title-page, from Wilder to Ashton L. Carr. Boards faintly rubbed; very light scuffing at spine tips and corners. Dust jacket sunned along spine and edges; some light chipping and creasing along edges; closed tear on rear panel. In custom chemise and slipcase. The Bradley Martin copy, with his bookplate.
Seller: Sanctuary Books, A.B.A.A., New York, NY, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey.. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$2800.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the author's masterpiece and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author, "For Rufus H. Hathaway with all the regard of Thornton Wilder Tornoto March 1929." Near fine in a good jacket reinforced to the verso. Illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. Housed in a custom chemise jacket with red morocco spine label. "Few novels identify their basic plotline as succinctly and forthrightly as the opening line of Thornton Wilderâs 1927 novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey: âOn Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.â The novelâs conceit is this: a certain Brother Juniper was himself about to step out onto the bridge when it broke and subsequently witnessed the plunge of five people into the abyss below. Brother Juniper wonders if the tragedy happened according to a divine plan or was simply a random instance of misfortune. His curiosity leads him to investigate the lives of the five victims to prove that the bridge collapse and the resulting deaths were indeed divine interventionâ"that God intended for them to die then and there. But, of course, the point of the novel is that there is no commonality among them, other than the fact that they are all simply human, with their own frailties. Wilder ends his at-once urgent and serene novel with this haunting passage: âBut soon we shall die and all memory of these five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning" (Brad Hooper). "One of the greatest reading novels in this century's American writing.Wonderfully lucid reading" (Edmund Fuller). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and named by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Best English-language novels from 1923-2005.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey.. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$3800.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the author's masterpiece and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Octavo, original cloth, cartographic endpapers. Inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "For Milton J. Lesser with the regard of Thornton Wilder New Haven March 1930." Also laid in is a signed handwritten letter to the recipient from Wilder. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. A superior example of the dust jacket, which is prone to wear. "Few novels identify their basic plotline as succinctly and forthrightly as the opening line of Thornton Wilderâs 1927 novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey: âOn Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.â The novelâs conceit is this: a certain Brother Juniper was himself about to step out onto the bridge when it broke and subsequently witnessed the plunge of five people into the abyss below. Brother Juniper wonders if the tragedy happened according to a divine plan or was simply a random instance of misfortune. His curiosity leads him to investigate the lives of the five victims to prove that the bridge collapse and the resulting deaths were indeed divine interventionâ"that God intended for them to die then and there. But, of course, the point of the novel is that there is no commonality among them, other than the fact that they are all simply human, with their own frailties. Wilder ends his at-once urgent and serene novel with this haunting passage: âBut soon we shall die and all memory of these five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning" (Brad Hooper). "One of the greatest reading novels in this century's American writing.Wonderfully lucid reading" (Edmund Fuller). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century and named by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Best English-language novels from 1923-2005.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Boni, 1927.
Price: US$4500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing SIGNED by Thornton Wilder on laid in signature. A spectacular dustjacket that is vibrant in colors with no chips or tears. This original first issue dustjacket has benefitted from professional restoration. The end result is a stunning copy seldom seen in this nice of condition. The book is in great shape. The binding is tight, and the boards are crisp with minor wear to the edges. The pages are exceptionally clean, with no writing, marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, and ideal copy SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
WILDER, Thornton. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY. Albert & Charles Boni, New York, 1927.
Price: US$5625.00 + shipping
Description: First Trade Edition, with title page printed in green and black. Preceded by the "preliminary issue" of 21 copies and the London edition by a few days. Illustrated by Amy Drevenstedt. Winner of Wilder's first of three Pulitzer Prizes, this copy is INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the half-title page to "Dr. Samuel Rosenfeld/with the regards of/Thornton Wilder" and dated "New Hope, Penn./July 1948." The book is slightly cocked. The dustwrapper has mild chipping to the spine tips and the upper front corner. Near Fine in a Very Good dustwrapper
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Albert & Charles Boni, 1927.
Price: US$6000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing SIGNED by Thornton Wilder. An attractive First Issue dustjacket with the minor wear to the edges. This original unsophisticated dustjacket has the $2.50 price present on the front flap. The book is in nice condition. The binding is tight, with light wear to the spine. The pages are clean with no marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a lovely copy SIGNED by the author housed in a custom clamshell slipcase for preservation and presentation. We buy Wilder First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (21cm); powder grey cloth, with titling and pictorial elements stamped in black and hunter green on spine and front cover; lime green topstain; map endpapers; dustjacket; [14],15-235,[3]pp, with frontispiece and nine illustrations by Amy Drevenstedt. This copy belonged to American magazine magnate Henry Robinson Luce (1898-1967), with his ink ownership signature on the preliminary blank, and a March 24, 1928 inscription from Wilder to he and his wife, Lila, on the title page: "For Lila and Harry / With all my best / Thornt." Light wear to extremities, some softening to spine ends, spine gently sunned, with a 3/4" split to cloth at lower front joint, and some mild dust-soil to cloth; Very Good+. In a supplied dustjacket, unclipped (priced $2.50)gently spine-sunned and lightly dust-soiled, with some modest external wear, several tiny nicks and tears, a few shallow losses to spine ends, and a stain at upper rear panel; Very Good or better. Housed in a custom folding case. Wilder's second and best-known novel, centered around the inter-related histories of five people who plunge to their deaths in 18th century Peru, when an Inca rope bridge breaks. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1928, ranked as No.37 on The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list, and basis for four film adaptations between 1929-2004. An excellent association copy, inscribed by Wilder to Henry Luce, whom he first met as a classmate at Yale. The men had a close but complicated lifelong friendship. Wilder introduced Luce to his first wife, Lila Ross Hotz, while they all attended Yale; Henry and Lila married in 1923, and had two children together. It was Amos Parker Wilder a journalist, diplomat, and Thornton's father who pulled Luce aside during his senior year and told him: "Harry, don't. Don't go into journalism. It will turn you into a cynic. It will turn your wine into vinegar. You will lose your soul" (Morrow, Lance. "Lost Souls: Reflections on the White House Correspondents' Dinner, by way of Henry Luce." May 1, 2018). Goldstone & Anderson B.i.2.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.