Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: xv, 395 pages; tan cloth, gilt spine and front titles, decorative elements to front cover in brown and gilt; Jack London's cream-colored paper bookplate (wolf's head with snowshoes and his name in all caps) to verso of frontispiece; black & white frontispiece, black & white illustrations; some pages uncut; some wear to board extremities, chipping to spine head; a very good minus copy; solid example featuring the famous author's bookplate, indicating his previous ownership.
Seller: Gold Beach Books & Art Gallery LLC, Gold Beach, OR, U.S.A.
Jack London. The People of the Abyss. The Macmillan Company, 1903.
Price: US$125.95 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition. Cover faded, discolored. White scuffs throughout cover. Spine, corners bumped, rubbed, with some fraying. Text block, pages tanned from age and shelf-wear. Several small puncture holes throughout cover and pages. Binding is loose.Hardcover
Seller: San Marco Bookstore, Jacksonville, FL, U.S.A.
London, Jack.. THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS.. George N. Morang & Co., Toronto, 1903.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Description: xiii, 319 pp., frontispiece (with tissue) and 80 illustratons from photographs, many full-page, original dark blue cloth with gilt titles. Jack London's study of the poor in London. The author worked, lived, and endured for 86 days with the city of London's unfortunates. First Canadian edition from the sheets of the Macmillan & Co. first US edition, with Morang imprint on title page and Macmillan copyright and first printing notice. Upper corner of page xi torn away, slight discoloration to endpapers, crease to upper corner of a page of text, else a very good copy, quite clean and unworn
Seller: Chanticleer Books, ABAA, Fort Bragg, CA, U.S.A.
London, Jack. The People of the Abyss. George N Morang & Company, Toronto, 1903.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Xiii, 319 Pp. Blue Cloth, Gilt. Publishing Date 1903 On Title Page And October 1903 On Copyright Page. First Canadian Edition, "Probably" Simultaneous With And Using The Sheets Of The American First Edition (Which Was Published By Macmillan). A Near Fine Example, Slight Rubbing At Corners, All Gilt Still Brilliant, Covers With Even Dark Blue Color. Newspaper Leader "Jack London Leaves For Japan As War Correspondent For "The Examiner", Including Large Photo Of London, Tipped Onto First Free Endpaper, With Light Offsetting On Facing Front Pastedown; Minute Losses At Top Two Corners Of This Endpaper, And A Light Dampstain Extending 2" X 1/2" At Most From Top Of Prelims And Frontispiece. Hinges Tight. Light Ink Inscription "To Mr. Roberson (?) In Memory April 24, 1905 Alice Clayton" At Top Of Front Pastedown, No Other Marks. [The Oakland Examiner On April 24, 1905, Had A Very Critical Article About London's Talk Given At The University Of California, Berkleley, On Politics Etc.]
Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
London, Jack. The People of the Abyss. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.
Price: US$472.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Xiii, 319 Pp. Blue Cloth Stamped In Gilt And Black, Top Edge Gilt, Foredge And Bottom Edge Deckled. Publishing Date 1903 On Title Page, And October 1903 On Copyright Page. First Issue Blue Binding [There Is A Later Red Remainder Binding Using Smaller Pages, But Otherwise Identical], With Undetermined Issue Point: Publisher's Name At Base Of Spine Is 4 Mm Tall; On A Small Number Of Other Copies It Is 3Mm Tall; No Priority Established. 3982 Copies Printed. Front Cover With All Gilt And Black Ink Entirely Present, Spine With Weak But Nearly Complete Gilt Lettering And Design; Top Edge Gilt Still Shiny. Cloth Worn At All Edges And On Spine, Just Beginning To Fray At Most Corners, With Minor And Almost Invisible Repairs. A Very Clean Copy, No Foxing Or Stains Or Marks,Tabard Inn Bookplate On Front Pastedown. A Hard Look At The Condition Of The Poor In London, Resulting In A Sobering And Informative Book. A Slightly Smaller Edition In A Remainder Binding Of Red Cloth With 1903 First Printing Contains All Illustrations But Sheets Are Cut Smaller; Later Reprint Editions Of This Book Lack Many Of The Original Illustrations.
Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
London, Jack. The People of the Abyss. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.
Price: US$517.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Xiii, 319 Pp. Blue Cloth Stamped In Gilt And Black, Top Edge Gilt, Foredge And Bottom Edge Deckled. Publishing Date 1903 On Title Page, And October 1903 On Copyright Page. First Issue Blue Binding [There Is A Later Red Remainder Binding Using Smaller Pages, But Otherwise Identical], With Undetermined Issue Point: Publisher's Name At Base Of Spine Is 4 Mm Tall; In A Small Number Of Other Copies It Is 3Mm Tall; No Priority Established. 3982 Copies Printed. Cover And Spine With All Gilt Brilliant And Complete And Black Ink Entirely Present; Top Edge Gilt Still Shiny. Cloth Worn At All Edges And On Spine, Pinpoint Fray At Lower Front Tip Only. A Very Clean Copy, No Foxing Or Stains Or Marks (Other Than A Lady's Ownership Signature Dated 1904). A Hard Look At The Condition Of The Poor In London, Resulting In A Sobering And Informative Book. A Slightly Smaller Edition In A Remainder Binding Of Red Cloth With 1903 First Printing Contains All Illustrations But Sheets Are Cut Smaller; Later Reprint Editions Of This Book Lack Many Of The Original Illustrations.
Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
London, Jack. The People of the Abyss. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.
Price: US$562.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Xiii, 319 Pp. Blue Cloth Stamped In Gilt And Black, Top Edge Gilt, Foredge And Bottom Edge Deckled. Publishing Date 1903 On Title Page, And October 1903 On Copyright Page. First Issue Blue Binding [There Is A Later Red Remainder Binding Using Smaller Pages, But Otherwise Identical], With Undetermined Issue Point: Publisher's Name At Base Of Spine Is 4 Mm Tall; In A Small Number Of Other Copies It Is 3Mm Tall; No Priority Established. 3982 Copies Printed. Front Cover With All Gilt And Black Ink Entirely Present, Spine With Complete Gilt Lettering And Design Showing Some Rubbing; Top Edge Gilt Still Shiny. Cloth Worn At All Edges And On Spine, No Fraying, No Repairs. A Very Clean Copy, No Foxing Or Stains Or Marks. A Hard Look At The Condition Of The Poor In London, Resulting In A Sobering And Informative Book. Later Reprint Editions Of This Book Omit Many Of These Original Illustrations.
Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1125.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Xiii, 319 Pp. Blue Cloth Stamped In Gilt And Black, Top Edge Gilt, Foredge And Bottom Edge Deckled. Publishing Date 1903 On Title Page, And October 1903 On Copyright Page. First Issue Blue Binding [There Is A Later Red Remainder Binding Using Smaller Pages, But Otherwise Identical], With Undetermined Issue Point: Publisher's Name At Base Of Spine Is 3 Mm Tall; In Other Copies It Is 4 Mm Tall; No Priority Established. 3982 Copies Printed. Front Cover With All Gilt And Black Ink Entirely Present, Spine With Nearly Complete Gilt Lettering And Design, Outer Edges Of A Few Letters Are Weak; Top Edge Gilt Still Shiny. Cloth Worn At All Edges And On Spine, Not Yet Fraying. Very Faint Damp-Spot In Upper Right Corner Of Rear Board, No Other Damp Spots. Front Hinges Weak, Rear Hinge Cracked Through Before Last Endpaper And Archivally [And Invisibly] Repaired, Minor Touch-Up To Color At Corners And Edges. A Clean Copy, No Foxing Or Stains Or Marks, Just A Neat Pencil Signature And 1904 Date On Endpaper, By A Previous Female Owner. A Hard Look At The Condition Of The Poor In London, Resulting In A Sobering And Informative Book. A Slightly Smaller Edition In A Remainder Binding Of Red Cloth With 1903 First Printing Contains All Illustrations But Sheets Are Cut Smaller; Later Reprint Editions Of This Book Lack Many Of The Original Illustrations.
Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
London, Jack. People of the Abyss. The MacMillan Company, New York, 1903.
Price: US$1595.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Near Fine. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1903. First Edition [BAL 11877], Sisson & Martens p. 15. Signed and inscribed by Becky London to her friend Mark Zamen. Photographically illustrated. Hefty octavo, xiii,[1],319,[1]+[3]ad pp. Gray/Blue cloth stamped in black and gilt, Top Edge Gilt. Rubbing and light soiling at spine and cover, leaving some wear to gilt, else basically flawless. Near Fine. The true first edition, in a rather exceptional state of preservation, of People of the Abyss, perhaps the scarcest of London's ventures into social investigative journalism. In 1902, posing as an out-of-work sailor, he "went underground into the belly of the beast" - the slums of London's East End - where, living on the street and working odd jobs, he was accepted by the locals and was able to collect the experiences retold here. Widely lauded and reprinted still as an activist socio-political masterpiece, it also deeply affected London himself, who said: "No other book of mine took so much of my young heart and tears as that study of the economic degradation of the poor." L85
Seller: Singularity Rare & Fine, Baldwinsville, NY, U.S.A.