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London, Jack & Strunky, Anna. The Kempton-Wace Letters. The Macmillan Co., 1903.

Price: US$70.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Original green gilt cloth with white title and black floral motif on front. Same format and year of publication as the first impression. One of the scarcest London titles simply because his name is not on the cover or spine. Rubbing to tips of corners, else a better than very good, clean and unmarked copy in bright spine gilt.

Seller: Bibliodisia Books, IOBA, MWABA, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

London, Jack. The Kempton-Wace letters,. The Macmillan Co, 1903.

Price: US$75.00 + shipping

Description: New York: Macmillan, 1903. First edition, second printing. Ex-library copy in green library binding with typcial lib. impression on title page, card pocket, etc. Fair.

Seller: Singing Saw Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

London, Jack. The Kempton-Wace Letters. The Macmillan Co. 1903, 1903.

Price: US$110.00 + shipping

Description: First edition ed. hardback good+ condition with some wear & bumping- no dust jacket- some browning on the half titie page from newspapers

Seller: Wonderland Books, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Unstated (Jack London and Anna Strunsky). The Kempton-Wace Letters. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.

Price: US$500.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First Edition, First Issue (without the authors names on the title page and with three pages of ads at the rear, also SD and 'Set up and electrotyped May, 1903' on the copyright page). This book was previously owned by the author, biographer, and literary critic Maxwell Geismar, although he did not write his name in the book. I bought a good number of his books some years ago. I currently have ten listed for sale, books that were signed and inscribed to him by their authors, and books that were written by him which he signed and inscribed to his wife Anne. Mr.Geismar edited and wrote the Introduction to a book titled Jack London: Short Stories which was published in 1960. He appears to have read The Kempton-Wace Letters while preparing for his work about Jack London. The majority of pages in this book have red penciled lines and parentheses at the margins and some have red penciled underlining. There are also a small number of instances where he wrote a word or two on the margin of a page. I imagine for some collectors and/or scholars his markings will provide an added interest, while for others any markings would be viewed as a negative. I have chosen to price the book quite inexpensively. The lowest price on the Internet for a first edition, first printing of this book is currently $750.00. You can see the covers in the photos. The illustrated design on the front is in very good condition. There are a few small spots of soiling on the front and the rear. The white lettering on the front is very bright. On the spine, which is toned, the gilt lettering is still quite visible, both for the title at the top and the small letters of the publisher's name at the bottom. As you can see there's a little rubbing and wear at the spine ends. There are only tiny spots of rubbing at the corners, the two front ones have a speck of rub-through. The edges are in very good shape. The bottom ones have several tiny spots of color loss, each also has one speck-sized spot of rub-through. The middle and bottom page edges are deckled or rough-cut. The binding is decent. There is a space between the rear side of the front end paper and the half-title page and between two pairs of facing pages in the text, but all of these pages are tightly bound from top to bottom. There is a small tan spot near the top corner of some early pages, but overall the pages are very clean. Some early pages are cut shorter at the bottom, but perfectly even. I'm not seeing any corner creases. There are no attachments of any kind. 'The novel presents a discussion of the philosophy of love and sex, written in the form of a series of letters between two men, Herbert Wace, a young scientist, and Dane Kempton, an elderly poet. London wrote Wace's letters, Strunsky Kempton's. Kempton makes the case for feeling and emotion, while Wace analyzes love in Darwinian terms: 'I purpose to order my affairs in a rational manner. Wherefore I marry Hester Stebbins. I am not impelled by the archaic sex madness of the beast, nor by the obsolescent romance madness of later-day man. I contract a tie which reason tells me is based upon health and sanity and compatibility. My intellect shall delight in that tie.' Initially the public was piqued by the anonymity of the writers and the book was moderately successful. Biographers have been intrigued by The Kempton-Wace Letters for the light it seems to shed on Jack London's life and ideas. Strunsky was named as the co-respondent in Jack London's divorce from his first wife, Bessie, but biographers generally agree that his relation with the younger Strunsky was platonic. They were active in socialist causes and members in a San Francisco radical literary group known as The Crowd.' Maxwell Geismar would have been drawn to their politics. He was an activist against the Vietnam War and also signed the Triple Revolution statement that was sent to President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He wrote the introduction to Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice.

Seller: Rareeclectic, pound ridge, NY, U.S.A.

London, Jack & Anna Strunsky. The Kempton-Wace Letters. (Second Edition with the authors' names.) Written with Anna Strunsky, his socialist comrade and reputed mistress, the first edition was published anonymously. Their names appeared first on the title page of the second edition, published in Sept. 1903.. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.

Price: US$500.00 + shipping

Description: Handsomely bound in finely woven grayish-blue cloth stamped brightly in white lettering on the front boards; with charming drawings of birds and flowers decorating the front panel. The spine is stamped brightly in gilt with designs as well. The top edges are gilded. With a touch of rubbing to the top and bottom of the spine ends; light wear to the corners. Veryclean and tight throughout, and printed on heavy, creamy white paper. No marks or names. With 3 pages of ads for Macmillan books at the back. Rather a scarce book, even with the authors' names on the title page. A collector's copy. The Kempton-Wace Letters presents a discussion of the philosophy of love and sex, written in the form of a series of letters between two men, "Herbert Wace," a young scientist, and "Dane Kempton," an elderly poet. Writer Jack London wrote "Wace's" letters, and Anna Strunsky wrote "Kempton's." In the late 19th century, the authors were part of a San Francisco radical literary group known as "The Crowd."Kempton makes the case for feeling and emotion, while Wace proceeds "scientifically" and analyzes love in Darwinian terms:"I purpose to order my affairs in a rational manner.Wherefore I marry Hester Stebbins. I am not impelled by the archaic sex madness of the beast, nor by the obsolescent romance madness of later-day man. I contract a tie which reason tells me is based upon health and sanity and compatibility. My intellect shall delight in that tie." Initially the public was piqued by the anonymity of the writers and the book was moderately successful. London biographer Russ Kingman praised the book; he quoted the Buffalo Commercial as admiring the "sheer charm of its prose" and saying the book "holds firmly its place in the front rank of the best of the season's publications. The New York Times was less charitable. It opened its review with the terse line, "The sex problem again." It complained that "Nothing that the scientist says is new, nothing that the poet says is new. The thing has been thrashed out some millions of times. Nor does the unnamed author infuse into either Wace or Kempton anything to give human personality or appeal. As a story [it] falls flat; as a discussion of a topic as old as interesting, as overworked."Joseph Noel says that George Sterling described London's portion of the book, as "a spiritual misprint, a typographical error half a volume long" and says "His vocabulary, in the letters of Herbert Wace, sounds as if taken that day from an encyclopedia by a conscientious sophomore."Biographers have been intrigued by The Kempton-Wace Letters for the light it seems to shed on Jack London's life and ideas. Strunsky was named as the co-respondent in Jack London's divorce from his first wife, Bessie, but biographers generally agree that his relation with the younger Strunsky was platonic. They were active in socialism and the literary group, "The Crowd", in San Francisco.In the novel, London expresses his theories about the "Mother-Woman" and the "Mate-Woman," roles which seem to correspond to the roles played by his first wife and his second. After London's death in 1916, Strunsky published a memoir in The Masses in 1917 about their relationship. (Wikipedia) John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, 1876 – 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone, including science fiction. Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf. London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passi

Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.

(London, Jack, And Anna Strunsky). The Kempton-Wace Letters (First Issue). The Macmillan Company, New York London, 1903.

Price: US$525.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: 262 Pp. + 3 Pp Ads At Rear. Blue Green Cloth, Decorated In Darker Shades, Gilt Spine Lettering, White Spine Lettering. Top Edge Gilt. First Edition, First Issue, With The Authors' Names Omitted Throughout. Publisher's Name On Spine In Letters 3/16" Tall; No Priority Established. (Number Printed Unknown, But From Scarcity Of Listings In Past 20 Years I Expect It To Have Been Well Under 5000.) Written As A Collaboration Between Jack London And Anna Strunsky. Ms. Strunsky Was An Active Socialist, Was Married To Socialist And Naacp Founder William English Walling, And Was The Aunt Of Leonore Strunsky (Born 1900) Who Was The Late Wife Of Composer Ira Gershwin; Her Biography Is Worth Reading. Some Wear, Gilt Still Bright, 1/2" Long, 1/4" Tall V-Chip At Bottom Of Spine, Fray To Upper Rear Tip, Pinpoint Fray To Lower Front Tip.

Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

[LONDON, Jack; STRUNSKY, Anna].. The Kempton - Wace Letters.. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Description: 256 [3, ads] pp. 12mo, publisher's blue decorated cloth; t.e.g. First edition. BAL 11875. There is a diagonal light crease to the rear board and some irregular areas of damage to the gilt top edge; but otherwise a fresh, unworn copy.

Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.

[London, Jack] [Strunsky, Anna]. The Kempton-Wace Letters. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.

Price: US$850.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: Octavo, [vi], 256pp, [3pp ads]. Green cloth, embellishments stamped in black on cover. Title in gilt on spine. Top edge gilt. No additional printings listed on copyright page. Solid text block, faint rubbing to spine tips and corners, faint shelf wear. A bright, near fine example. This is the first printing, without the authors' names listed on title page; three pages of ads at the rear; and "Set up and electrotyped May, 1903" on copyright page. (Sisson & Martens 12) (BAL 11875) An attractive example. Jack London (1876-1916) was one of the first American authors to gain international fame and accumulate wealth from his writing. Despite his popularity, London never received any literary awards for his work. London is remembered today through retellings of his stories on film and television, most recently in a movie adaptation of The Call of the Wild starring Harrison Ford.

Seller: The First Edition Rare Books, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.

London, Jack & Anna Strunsky. The Kempton-Wace Letters. (The First Edition without the authors' names.) Written with Anna Strunsky, his socialist comrade and reputed mistress, the first edition was published anonymously; this, the first edition, first issue does not print their names on the title page or anywhere else in the book.. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1903.

Price: US$2500.00 + shipping

Description: Handsomely bound in finely woven grayish-blue cloth stamped brightly in white lettering on the front boards; with charming drawings of birds and flowers decorating the front panel. The spine is stamped brightly in gilt with designs as well. The top edges are gilded. With a touch of rubbing to the top and bottom of the spine ends; light wear to the corners. Clean and tight throughout, and printed on heavy, creamy white paper. One name written in green on the front endpaper as well as another previous owner's initials and the date of Aug. 21, 1903. With 3 pages of ads for Macmillan books at the back. Rather a scarce book, especially without the authors' names on the title page or anywhere else. A collector's copy. The Kempton-Wace Letters presents a discussion of the philosophy of love and sex, written in the form of a series of letters between two men, "Herbert Wace," a young scientist, and "Dane Kempton," an elderly poet. Writer Jack London wrote "Wace's" letters, and Anna Strunsky wrote "Kempton's." In the late 19th century, the authors were part of a San Francisco radical literary group known as "The Crowd."Kempton makes the case for feeling and emotion, while Wace proceeds "scientifically" and analyzes love in Darwinian terms:"I purpose to order my affairs in a rational manner.Wherefore I marry Hester Stebbins. I am not impelled by the archaic sex madness of the beast, nor by the obsolescent romance madness of later-day man. I contract a tie which reason tells me is based upon health and sanity and compatibility. My intellect shall delight in that tie." Initially the public was piqued by the anonymity of the writers and the book was moderately successful. London biographer Russ Kingman praised the book; he quoted the Buffalo Commercial as admiring the "sheer charm of its prose" and saying the book "holds firmly its place in the front rank of the best of the season's publications. The New York Times was less charitable. It opened its review with the terse line, "The sex problem again." It complained that "Nothing that the scientist says is new, nothing that the poet says is new. The thing has been thrashed out some millions of times. Nor does the unnamed author infuse into either Wace or Kempton anything to give human personality or appeal. As a story [it] falls flat; as a discussion of a topic as old as interesting, as overworked."Joseph Noel says that George Sterling described London's portion of the book, as "a spiritual misprint, a typographical error half a volume long" and says "His vocabulary, in the letters of Herbert Wace, sounds as if taken that day from an encyclopedia by a conscientious sophomore."Biographers have been intrigued by The Kempton-Wace Letters for the light it seems to shed on Jack London's life and ideas. Strunsky was named as the co-respondent in Jack London's divorce from his first wife, Bessie, but biographers generally agree that his relation with the younger Strunsky was platonic. They were active in socialism and the literary group, "The Crowd", in San Francisco.In the novel, London expresses his theories about the "Mother-Woman" and the "Mate-Woman," roles which seem to correspond to the roles played by his first wife and his second. After London's death in 1916, Strunsky published a memoir in The Masses in 1917 about their relationship. (Wikipedia) John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, 1876 – 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone, including science fiction. Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the

Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.

(London, Jack, And Anna Strunsky). The Kempton-Wace Letters (First Issue, Signed By Jack London). The Macmillan Company, New York London, 1903.

Price: US$4000.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: 262 Pp. + 3 Pp Ads At Rear. Blue Green Cloth, Decorated In Darker Shades, Gilt Spine Lettering, White Spine Lettering. Teg. First Edition, First Issue, With The Author's Names Omitted Throughout. Publisher's Name On Spine In Letters 3/16" Tall; No Priority Established. This Copy Signed By Jack London On The Title Page In Pencil. Written As A Collaboration Between Jack London And Anna Strunsky. Ms. Strunsky Was An Active Socialist, Was Married To Socialist And Naacp Founder William English Walling, And Was The Aunt Of Leonore Strunsky (Born 1900) Who Was The Late Wife Of Composer Ira Gershwin. Some Wear, Gilt Still Bright, A Few Points Of Fraying At Ends Of Spine, No Fraying To Tips, Lacking Front Free Blank Endpaper. Name Stamps Of A Previous Owner, R. M. Price, On Front And Rear Endpapers.

Seller: Arroyo Seco Books, Pasadena, Member IOBA, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

[LONDON, Jack].. The Kempton-Wace Letters. INSCRIBED. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1903., 1903.

Price: US$8500.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: First edition, first issue, without the author's names on the title page. 8vo. Original gray/blue cloth, with front decoratively stamped in black in an all over floral design and lettered in gilt, t.e.g., others uncut (front hinge a little cracked), else a fine, bright copy. 256 pages. Enclosed in an old worn slipcase. Inscribed by Jack London with a quote from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam on the front free endpaper: "To dear Charles Warren Stoddard* - 'Indeed, indeed, Repentance /oft before / I swore - but was I / sober when I swore?' / Jack London / The Bungalow /June 6, 1903". Issued very early in his career - in fact, in the same year are his now classic "The Call of the Wild" - "The Kempton-Wace Letters" was a collaborative novel consisting of the epistolary discussion of the philosophy of love, written anonymously by Jack London and Anna Strunsky. *Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), California poet and author of many travel narratives. After journeying to Hawaii and Tahiti, he wrote South-Sea Idylls (1873), Hawaiian Life (1894), and The Lepers of Molokai (1885); Jack London borrowed the last title for an article in Woman's Home Companion, January 1908. From 1889 to 1902 Stoddard was professor of English at the Catholic University of America. As evidenced by London's breezy letters to the older Stoddard, the two appear to have been on quite friendly terms. In one letter from 1900, London - referring to Stoddard's books on the South Seas - writes: "You are responsible. You have sown the seeds of unrest in me."

Seller: Houle Rare Books/Autographs/ABAA/PADA, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.