Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt & Co, NY, 1916.
Price: US$43.50 + shipping
Description: ALL FIRST ISSUE POINTS, SPINE MODERATELY FADED BUT READABLE
Seller: Robert S. Brooks, Bookseller, Bristol, WI, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1916.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First Edition, later state. Bumped and worn corners. Spotting, scratch across front cover. Wear at extremeties. Presentation by former owner on front end paper. Two pages of ads at back. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: The Country Bookshop [Member VABA], Plainfield, VT, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1916.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Published April. 1916. Bumped and worn corners. Wear at extremities. Some scratches on front cover. Spotting on covers. Presentation by former owner on front end paper. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: The Country Bookshop [Member VABA], Plainfield, VT, U.S.A.
Carl Sandburg. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt And Company, New York, 1916.
Price: US$49.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Blue cloth binding, 183 pages plus 2 pages of book ads at rear of book dated "3/16" as called for with the first edition, couple minor rub spots to board edges and one very small almost unnoticeable chip to the top of spine otherwise VERY GOOD. Dedicated to Sandburg's wife Lilian Steichen.sister of famous photographer Edward Steichen. (Lilian's name with an extra "L" in the dedication (Lillian and should be Lilian).
Seller: Barry's Books, San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916., 1916.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition( second state). Hardcover. Very good condition (no dust jacket). Top and bottom of spine chipped. Corners slightly rubbed. Internally clean and tight.
Seller: Waverly & Rugby Books, Pinehurst, NC, U.S.A.
SANDBURG, CARL. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt, NY, 1916.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition of the AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK. A tight copy, spine lettering dulled. Ads undated.
Seller: Old Book Shop of Bordentown (ABAA, ILAB), Bordentown, NJ, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt and Company, NY, 1916.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "Published April, 1916" on copyright page; 3'16 at base of first page of ads in rear. Front endpapers partially browned from news clipping. Light wear at edges of spine. DJ missing.
Seller: Acme Book Company, Fayetteville, NY, U.S.A.
SANDBURG, Carl. CHICAGO POEMS. Henry Holt, New York, 1916.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Duodecimo, green cloth rubbed, some fingerprint spots on cloth, brief inked inscription on endpaper, 183pp. Second state with ads at rear = undated . [ Heise 8 -"This is the book for which Sandburg was first appreciated."]. Includes "Chicago", Fog", "Clark Street Bridge," "Halsted Street Car," "Skyscraper", war poems (1914-1915), etc.
Seller: Thomas J. Joyce And Company, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
SANDBURG, Carl. Chicago Poems. New York. Henry Holt and Company. 1916, 1916.
Price: US$84.56 + shipping
Description: 12mo, 19cm, xi,[1],183,[1]&[2]p., publisher's ads.), The First Edition, First Issue, indicated by date (3'16) on publisher's ads., dark green publisher's cloth, gilt titles on the spine and cover, bookplate, a very good to fine (ltds). ~ With bookplate of E. Barton Hills, who is also mentioned in the Stark bookplate collection at the University of New Hampshire. ~ Publisher's notes (The New Poetry) "In his ability to concentrate a whole story or picture or character within the compass of a few lines, Mr. Sandburg's work compares favorably with the best achievements of the recent successful American poets. It is, however, distinguished by its trenchant note of social criticism and by its vision for a better social order."
Seller: J. Patrick McGahern Books Inc. (ABAC), Ottawa, ON, Canada
Price: US$87.99 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description:
Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
SANDBURG, Carl. Chicago Poems. New York. Henry Holt and Company. 1916, 1916.
Price: US$112.74 + shipping
Description: 12mo, 19cm, xi,[1],183,[1]&[2]p., publisher's ads.), The First Edition, First Issue, indicated by date (3'16) on publisher's ads., dark green publisher's cloth, gilt titles on the spine and cover, ownership signature & light pencilled notation on the free fly, a near fine copy (ltds). ~ Publisher's notes (The New Poetry) "In his ability to concentrate a whole story or picture or character within the compass of a few lines, Mr. Sandburg's work compares favorably with the best achievements of the recent successful American poets. It is, however, distinguished by its trenchant note of social criticism and by its vision for a better social order."
Seller: J. Patrick McGahern Books Inc. (ABAC), Ottawa, ON, Canada
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt, 1916.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First Edition. FIRST EDITION. Author's first book. No jacket. Ex library copy. Cover has shelf wear but minimal. Pages are tanning.
Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
SANDBURG, Carl.. Chicago Poems.. Henry Holt, New York, 1916.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: 183 pp. 8vo, publisher's cloth. First edition, first issue of ads. A very good copy with some light bumping to corners, a few small stains, and some general use. The gold on the spine is bright. Author's first book.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt, New York, 1916.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Second Issue. Very Good, lacking the jacket. Dark blue buckram with gilt lettering and designs, rubbed on the spine. Square and firmly bound with a dark top stain, bookplate inside the front board. Sandburg's major publication debut, including the poem that coined Chicago as the "City of Big Shoulders."
Seller: Carpetbagger Books, Woodstock, IL, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1916.
Price: US$195.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Henry Holt & Co. New York. 1916 (1925). 183 pages; 2 pp. ads in rear. First edition, early printing. While 1916 is the date on the title page, there is a 1925 date on the copyright page. Binding and hinges are strong and sound. Green cloth stamped in gold. Gilt rubbed on spine. Tiny closed tear at crown. The Chicago Poems represent Sandburg's attempts to create an American version of social realism, writing expansive verse in praise of American agriculture and industry. One of Chicago's many nicknames, "City of the Big Shoulders," is taken from the fifth line of Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago, which is part of this collection. This copy comes from the personal library of Dr. Francis S. Ronalds, founder of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Some of the agency's preservation-purchases under his watch include but are not limited to: Franklin D. Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park, N.Y., the Vanderbilt mansion (also is in Hyde Park) and the Adams mansion in Quincy, Mass. Dr. Ronald's vintage bookplate graces the front pastedown.
Seller: Medium Rare Books, Mountainside, NJ, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt, 1916.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition, second issue without date on ads in back. Hardcover. No dust jacket. Publishers green cloth. Good binding and cover. Fading to gilt on titles. Shelfwear. Stain to side page end. Clean, unmarked pages. Johnson, p. 455
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Carl Sandburg. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt and Company, NY, 1916.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 183 pp + 2 p ads, book and contents are clean and tight, the pages are lightly browned, the front free endpaper has former owner name inked on top and bottom, the ads in the rear are dated 3'16, the covers are tight and have light extremity wear, the dust jacket consists of front panel and flap only, they are complete, worn on fold between front and flap, a nice copy of the author's first hardback book. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall
Seller: Yesterday's Books, Richmond, IN, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. CHICAGO POEMS. Henry Holt and Co.: NY, 1916.
Price: US$287.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 7.25 x 5", cloth, 188pp + ads, covers heavily rubbed and dull, small tear at top of spine, pp heavily browned, pencil inscription from former owner inside front cover. Later state ("March 1922") but SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, CARL SANDBURG, OPPOSITE TITLE PAGE.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems.. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1916.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the author's first regularly published book. First issue with the advertisement dated "3'16" at the rear. Octavo, original cloth. From the library of William Safire with his bookplate to the pastedown. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixonâs campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and supported him again in 1968. After Nixonâs 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column âOn Languageâ in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safireâs âmagnum opus,â Safireâs Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In very good condition. Chicago Poems was Carl Sandburg's first-published book of verse. Written in the poet's unique, personal idiom, these poems embody a soulfulness, lyric grace, and a love of and compassion for the common man that earned Sandburg a reputation as a "poet of the people." Among the dozens of poems in this collection are such well-known verses as "Chicago," "Fog," "To a Contemporary Bunkshooter," "Who Am I?" and "Under the Harvest Moon," as well as numerous others on themes of war, immigrant life, death, love, loneliness, and the beauty of nature. These early poems reveal the simplicity of style, honesty, and vision that characterized all of Sandburg's work and earned him enormous popularity in the 1920s and '30s and a Pulitzer prize in poetry in 1951.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. Henry Holt and Company, NY, 1916.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "Published April, 1916" on copyright page. Possible later issue (no numbers at base of first page of ads) . Front endpapers partially browned from news clipping. Light wear at edges of spine. DJ missing. ; Signed by Author
Seller: Acme Book Company, Fayetteville, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$525.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Gilt titles still legible to dark blue (or black?) cloth boards, though gilt somewhat worn to spine. Binding cloth may once have been damp at corners near spine, though there's no staining. Hinges and endpapers are clean and lovely. Copyright page states "Published April, 1916," which matches date to title page; no later dates showing. Publisher's ads dated "3'16" both at rear of text block, and to dust jacket rear panel. Said publisher's ads offer both "Chicago Poems" and "North of Boston -- 6th printing" at $1.25 net; "A Boy's Will (Mr. Frost's first volume of poetry, 2nd printing)," at 75 cents net. (Let's order several!) The "good-plus" original dust jacket is complete and unsophisticated (no tape, no repairs, with a half-inch closed tear to top of front panel.) Jacket priced $1.35 to spine. Tidemark to dust jacket spine where it was once damp. In their "Collected Books / The Guide to Values / 1998 Edition," Allen and Patricia Ahearn listed this book at $1,000 in dustwrapper ($300 without dustwrapper.) As a sensible measure of inflation over those 24 years, the melt value of silver bullion in 1998 was $7 per ounce; at this writing in early 2024 it's $25. On the other hand, bulk silver dollars from the early 20th Century will now run you $33 apiece. Includes the poem "Chicago -- Hog Butcher for the World, / Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat . . ." as well as "The fog comes / on little cat feet . . ." Now reduced from $1,050.
Seller: Cat's Curiosities, Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.