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Harte, Bret. The Heathen Chinee. Western News, c.1870, 1870.

Price: US$150.00 + shipping

Condition: Fair

Description: 9 lithographed cards c.1870, ca.5 x7 , but matted into 9-1/2 x11 . 2 cards waterstained, 1 badly foxed, 1 lightly foxed, mats are ugly grey but very solid & functional. $

Seller: Harry Alter, Sylva, NC, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret. PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES. Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$150.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: 9 illustrations by Joseph Hull, Western News Company, 1870. Originally published as "The Heathen Chinee" This "edition" of the poem consisted of 9 loose pages, printed on stiffened paper. These illustrations have been bound in a brown cloth with gilt stamping on the cover. The binding appears to be a publisher's binding. There is some bubbling to the covers, both front and back; spine ends are worn; pages have been trimmed close with one line of text partially trimed off on two illustrations. Illustrations have a dusty look to them. Very good. (102)

Seller: Colorado Pioneer Books, Centennial, CO, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret. THE HEATHEN CHINEE: Plain Language from Truthful James. Chicago: The Western News Company, 1870.

Price: US$225.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: 9 lithographed cards. Text and Illustrations on nine cards, lacking lithographed envelope. A First Edition, First Printing of the poem; Illustrated by Joseph Hull; Very good, with some smudges and watermarks. *Blanck 7248. S002.

Seller: Parnassus Book Service, Inc, YarmouthPort, MA, U.S.A.

HARTE, BRET.. The Heathen Chinee. Chicago: Western News Company, 1870, 1870.

Price: US$250.00 + shipping

Description: First Edition; second printing; BAL #7248. Original lithographed envelope (a little stained) and nine lithographed cards; very good overall. All books described as first editions are first printings unless otherwise noted.

Seller: Peter L. Stern & Co., Inc, Newton, MA, U.S.A.

Joseph Hull. The Heathen Chinee. Western News Co, [Chicago, Illinois], 1870.

Price: US$300.00 + shipping

Description: First printing of "The Heathen Chinee", subtitled "Plain Language from Truthful James", a series of nine (9) lithographic plates based on the narrative poem by Bret Harte (1836-1902). Steeped in Anti-Chinese sentiment, the plates tell the story of a Chinese immigrant named "Ah Sin" who cheats at cards, instigating a violent mob. Plate No. 6 summarizes the overall message of the tale: "We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor". Each plate measures approx. 7.25" by 5.5"; versos blank. Lacking original printed wrapper. OCLC - 7 (Mar 2022). Ironically, Bret Harte (1836-1902) opposed Anti-Chinese sentiment publicly in the 1860s. One reading of "The Heathen Chinee" argues that, as the white men are cheating too, the message is more ambiguous than it appears. Institutional sale only - to be contextualized for educational purposes. Toned, one small water stain to plate 9, else fine. Lacking original printed wrapper. Plate 7 appears to be from a different printing.

Seller: Eclectibles, ABAA, Tolland, CT, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret (i.e. Francis Brett Harte). THE HEATHEN CHINEE . Illustrated by Joseph Hull . [envelope title]. The Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$350.00 + shipping

Description: Small quarto, nine lithographed cards enclosed in an original elaborately lithographed envelope. First printing of the first separate edition. Harte's poem first appeared as "Plain Language from Truthful James" in the September 1870 issue of the OVERLAND MONTHLY, an influential early California literary magazine edited by Harte. Born in Albany, N. Y., Francis Brett Harte (1838-1902), preeminently a man of the East, arrived in California in 1854 to join his widowed Mother who had moved there with a party of relatives and friends in 1853. In 1864, after a succession of jobs in Northern California: apothecary's assistant, teacher, private tutor, express messenger and typesetter, he moved to San Francisco where he "was connected with the GOLDEN ERA, first as a typesetter and later as an editor and contributor. In 1862 he was married. Two years later he was appointed Secretary of the California Mint, an office that allowed him abundant time for literary work. He was connected with Webb's brilliant and short-lived CALIFORNIAN, first as contributor and later as editor, and in 1868, when the OVERLAND MONTHLY, which was to be the ATLANTIC of Western America, was founded, he was made the editor. "The Luck of Roaring Camp" in the second number and "Plain Language from Truthful James" in the September, 1870, number, brought him a popularity that in suddenness and extent had had no precedent in America, save in the case of Mrs. Stowe and UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. The enormous applause intoxicated him; California became too narrow and provincial; and in 1871 he left it, joyous as one who is returning home after a long exile." - Pattee, A History of American Literature Since 1870, p. 67. BAL 7248 (printing 1). Merle Johnson, You Know These Lines!, pp. 71-75. First card a bit foxed, several cards cut slightly off center (as is usually the case; the cards were printed on a large sheet and then cut apart). The envelope is worn, foxed, missing its flap, and open on three sides. This set of cards is accompanied by another set of first printing cards, most of which are a bit tanned, which lacks the envelope. The set of cards with envelope is enclosed in a cloth folder and green crushed morocco slipcase which is worn at edges and has a faded spine panel. A classic of Western American literature. (#160995)

Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret; Hull, Joseph [illustrator]. THE HEATHEN CHINEE. The Western News Company, Chicago, Il, 1870.

Price: US$450.00 + shipping

Description: Octavo, 9 plates; G; in red chemise, in VG- red slipcase; slipcase spine paneled red leather with gilt lettering; plates in original Fair wrappers; previous owner's name to front of wrapper; black and white illustrated plates; plates clean; CX consignment; shelved Case 1. 1345699. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.

Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret. The Heathen Chinee. Published by The Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$450.00 + shipping

Description: First Edition, first printing. Illustrated by Joseph Hill. 5 7/16"x 7 1/4" (with some minor variation between cards). The text appears on nine cards numbered 1 to 9, each card illustrated; the whole lithographed. The title appears, highly decorated, lithographed on the front of an envelope. 1 vols. BAL 7248 The envelope is slighly stained and a bit soiled and show a slight amount of wear. Preserved in a cloth slipcase with chemise Illustrated by Joseph Hill. 5 7/16"x 7 1/4" (with some minor variation between cards). The text appears on nine cards numbered 1 to 9, each card illustrated; the whole lithographed. The title appears, highly decorated, lithographed on the front of an envelope. 1 vols

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

[China] Harte, Bret F. cartoon. The Heathen Chinee. The Western News Co, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$495.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Harte celebrated satire in anti Chinese feeling which was perverted into a war cry against 'Chinese cheap labor". Very important and scarce, this is the original version, with original printed envelope. A satiric look at race relations which established Bret Harte's literary reputation. All housed inside a second envelope with the name C.S. Rackemann in ink on cover and in small pencil script at the base, '11/9/73 Goodspeeds' (the noted Boston Book and Print Seller". 9 cartoon series in the original envelope, with story by Bret Harte and cartoons by Joseph Hull. Numbered cartoons with text below depict a card game between 2 western miners ("Truthful James" and "Bill Nye") and a Chinese ("Ah Sin"), in which the Chinese is more proficient at cheating at cards, and for which he is beaten by a mob. With the line "Can this be? We are ruined by cheap Chinese labor". 5 x 7 1/4 in cards, in original envelope with ink inscription, with a small bookseller's stamp laid in "Burnton's 92 Fourth Av" and with an inscription at the upper right 'Charlie Rackemann from Uncle Ell'. Original envelope dusty, with short tears at edges, cards themselves clean, very good condition.

Seller: Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints, ABAA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.

Harte, F. Bret. THE HEATHEN CHINEE. The Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$645.95 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: First edition consisting of 9 loose illustrated cards by Joseph Hull with words by the author with original decoratively printed envelope which is separated along all sides a clean bright set. Picture.

Seller: The Antiquarian Shop, Bend, OR, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret. Joseph Hull, illustrator. Plain Language from Truthful James. The Heathen Chinee . . .. Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Uncommon to find in the hand-colored version. 8vo. 22.5 by 18 cm. Nine hand-colored plates of light narrative verse of card players avenging themselves on a Chinese cheat. Obviously politically incorrect as it plays into negative stereotypes and distrust of the Chinese who first came to the American West in numbers to build the transcontinental railroad. All plates are first printing except 6, which is the second state. BAL 7246. In this copy the separately issued cards have been mounted onto a light card stock and bound in full blue morocco. The binding is rubbed along the joints, somewhat dry on the spine and has other wear. Tight and clean within.

Seller: White Fox Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Harte, Bret. The Heathen Chinee. Western News Company, Chicago, 1870.

Price: US$950.00 + shipping

Description: Hull, Joseph. First Edition, First Printing. Illustrated by Joseph Hull. 1 vols. 8vo. Unusual Contemporary Hand-Colored Copy-With Harte Letter. We have not, until now, seen a colored copy of this work. The coloring here is done in a fine, contemporary, hand. Laid in is an AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("BRET HARTE"), dated Glasgow, September 24, 1880, to Herrn N. Trübnur in Baden, Germany: "Gentlemen, Will you kindly send me Mr. Nicholas Trübner [word unclear] address, and when you expect him to return to Sweden, and oblige." Harte, who had been appointed United States Consul at Crefeld, Prussia, was in 1880 transferred to the same position at Glasgow, Scotland. He served there until 1885. BAL 7248 9 lithographed cards. Some minor soiling and dampstaining to cards 1 and 9. Original lithographed envelope. Minor soiling and chipping to envelope, otherwise fine, housed in light blue cloth chemise Illustrated by Joseph Hull. 1 vols. 8vo

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Bret Harte. The Heathen Chinee. 1st 1870 Signed Arts & Crafts Binding by Harcourt. Chicago: Western News Company,, 1870.

Price: US$1000.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First edition, square foolscap 8vo (7" x 5 1/2"), title & 9 lithograph plates by Joseph Hull bearing the text in verse. Full red-orange oasis niger morocco by Harcourt Bindery with their gilt pallet signature on the front doublure, Arts & Crafts design with back in six compartments, gilt titled in the second & fourth, gilt leaf-vine-bud with onlays in the rest, sides with gilt & dot frame rounded & intersecting at corners with terminals of leaf-vine & bud with onlays, Elaborate gilt fillet & dots bordered doublures of red-orange oasis niger framing burgundy red panels inlaid with a tulip in green & black gilt outlined crushed morocco, repeated on the lower side, red moire free endpapers, top edges gilt. Near fine with some light natural wear, professionally re-backed with the original back-strip laid down without loss. Some edge fraying to the red moire free endpapers.Title & plates clean, unmarked, complete. H9172.

Seller: J & J House Booksellers, ABAA, Kennett Square, PA, U.S.A.