Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
CRANE, Stephan. Active Service: A Novel. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1899.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition, Octavo, original decorated green cloth over boards, light and dark green stamped lettering and designs on front cover and spine. A novel concerning love in the time of war from American author Stephen Crane. Very good, spine darkened, light shelf wear, rear hinge potentially starting, small ink "CJK" stamp on front free endpaper.
Seller: Yesterday's Gallery, ABAA, East Woodstock, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Small 8vo (7 1/2" x 5 1/4"), light green cloth with black lettering on spine & front cover with Art Nouveau tree embosed on spine and front cover, [vi] + 345 pages. Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Creative and prolific, he wrote striking works that became models of American "Naturalism" and Impressionism. Crane's Red Badge of Courage and Maggie a Girl of the Streets are American classics. ACTIVE SERVICE tells the story of a promising young editor of the Sunday supplement for a prominent New York paper, who falls deeply in love with the daughter of a disapproving and petty college prof. When the latter tries to abort the connection by taking his daughter to Greece, the passionate editor follows. Their romance then takes place against the backdrop of the Turkish-Greek war (where Crane had once been a war correspondent). The book has been praised for its "abundance of minute observation"; "tenderness and brilliance," and "sheer impudent vivacity." Very Good condition: Square and tight copy without internal markings. Front inner hinge paper cracked but sewing holding well. Cover has moderate wear most noticeable at corners and head & foot of spine. Light uniform page-toning. BAL 4084; Stallman #21; Wright III, 1250.
Seller: Borg Antiquarian, Lake Forest, IL, U.S.A.
Stephen Crane. War is Kind. Frederick Stokes Company, USA, 1899.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Previous owner's bookplate inside the cover. Some tanning to the spine and wear to the top of it. Clean, unmarked and tightly bound. Shipped from the Calico Cat Bookshop, a brick and mortar bookshop established in 1975.
Seller: The Calico Cat Bookshop, Ventura, CA, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. WAR IS KIND. Drawings by Will Bradley. , 1899.
Price: US$475.00 + shipping
Description: [Will Bradley's masterpiece] New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1899. Original grey paper boards pictorially decorated in black, with spine label. First Edition of Crane's eighth book, his second volume of verse (some of which had appeared in the 1896 Roycroft Quarterly as "A Souvenir and A Medley"). Crane wrote these poems in Havana, during his nine-month separation from Cora; he called them his "Intrigue" poems, as in general they concerned his love-conflict between Cora (then being foreclosed upon in England) and Lily Brandon Munroe. Mainly interesting as biography, these poems have been ignored or slighted by Crane's biographers and critics. They are memorable not as poetry but as poetic documents of personal feeling [Stallman]. But today this book is sought just as much for Will Bradley's book design and illustrations: the book is now regarded as typifying the best of American book design of the 1890s. The book was "arranged and printed by Will Bradley," with the text and his many illustrations on the heavy grey paper he chose for this book. This is a very good copy: the front joint is cracked but glued tight, and the very top of the spine is eroded, but the browning of the spine is less than usual; remarkably, the leaves are still unopened. Williams & Starrett 20; Blanck 4083.
Seller: Sumner & Stillman [ABAA], Yarmouth, ME, U.S.A.
Stephen Crane /Will Bradley (illustrations). War Is Kind. Frederick A. Stokes, 1899.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Hardback book (96 pages) with illustrations by Will Bradley. Boards show moderate soiling/nicked/scuffed at edge - spine rebacked. Bookseller since 1995 (ULG2-L-TS-Down) rareviewbooks
Seller: rareviewbooks, Kensington, MD, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen.. WAR IS KIND.. Frederick A. Stokes: NY, 1899.
Price: US$575.00 + shipping
Description: Drawings by Will Bradley, 8.5 5 5.25, pict cloth (designed by WB), 96 pp, extremities chipped, corners badly bumped, spine bumped at label and center, covers yellowed, text block cracked else ok. FIRST ED.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen and Will Bradley (illus.). WAR IS KIND. Frederick A. Stokes: NY, 1899.
Price: US$575.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illus. by Will Bradley, 8.5 x 5.25", pict boards, 96pp, covers (especially spine) quite rubbed and yellowed, extremities bumped and chipping, bookplate of former owner inside front cover, some spotting to eps, bookseller label (Henry R. Johnson, Springfield, MA) inside rear cover. Still, a pretty nice copy of this handsome book.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Bradley, Will (Illustrator). War is Kind by Stephen Crane. Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1899.
Price: US$575.00 + shipping
Description: 96 pages. 8vo, 21 x 13.5 cm. Six full-page and front cover illustration by Will Bradley with numerous decorations in the text. Printed on dark gray stock with covers to match. Title page, illustrations and decorations are by Bradley. He also arranged the layout of the book. Later editions were in a smaller format. BOMBACE A42. Clean interior, spine lacks two centimeters at foot, slight nick at head; nevertheless, covers are bright and fresh. Orig. illustrated gray boards. Very good
Seller: Royoung Bookseller, Inc. ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. War is Kind. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1899.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1899. The ironic "War is Kind" is Stephen Crane's second collection of poetry. Always in poor health, a year later he would be dead at a tragically young 28. Crane went through a period of ill-regard, but now is recognized as an innovative master within American literature. This is a Very Good copy. Rare. Brown paper-covered boards; front cover and within are illustrations and head-pieces by the famed Art Nouveau illustrator Will Bradley (1868-1962), whose work is often favorably compared to Aubrey Beardsley. Cleran text; 96 pages . Printed on gray paper stock with only the top trimmed. There is a penciled signature on the FFEP; small bookseller label (Brentano's Chicago) on the rear paste-down. The spine has cracked at the edges but is holding; chips to the head and foot, the top one resulting in loss to the paper label. In an archival plastic protector. First Edition. Pictorial Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Will Bradley. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Seller: Quercus Rare Books, Chico, CA, U.S.A.
Stephen Crane | Will Bradley (Drawings by). War Is Kind. Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1899.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. 5 x 8.5in. 96pp. Bound in recent paper-covered boards with the original front board panel and title label affixed. New colored endpapers in emulation of the original. An odd copy with the first 12pp. printed twice, one after the other. NEAR FINE. Shows the spine somewhat rubbed, the slightest hint of toning at the outermost margin of the text-block, otherwise the binding is strong and tight, the text is clean and unmarked, and the boards remain bright and distinct. As pictured.
Seller: North Books: Used & Rare, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. War Is Kind. New York: Frederick Stokes, 1899., 1899.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition (96 pp.), designed and illustrated by Will Bradley. Octavo, pictorial gray laid paper on boards, decoration and title on front cover, title label on spine; text printed on gray laid paper as on cover. More than twenty vignettes, head and tail pieces in handsome art nouveau style by Will Bradley (often considered some of Bradleys best work); in suitable bespoke slipcase. The first and only edition of Cranes second (and last) collection of poems. Cover lightly sunned along top edge and spine, a scratch and abrasion on lower right of front cover; front hinge starting; traces of removed bookplate on pastedown. Clean and attractive internally (opens at p. 49). Generally a very presentable copy of an important and scarce collection of Cranes poems.
Seller: Trillium Antiquarian Books, Peterborough, ON, Canada
Crane, Stephen.. WAR IS KIND.. Frederick A. Stokes: NY, 1899.
Price: US$862.50 + shipping
Description: Drawings by Will Bradley, 8.5 x 5.25, pict boards, 96 pp, corners bruised, a bit of yellowing (esp spine), minor spine dent else a nice copy. FIRST ED. Scarce in this nice condition.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. War Is Kind. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1899.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Attractive copy of this masterpiece of Art Nouveau book design and a key Will Bradley work. Slight cracking at top of spine otherwise binding in beautiful near fine condition and interior is very bright and clean with no book plates or writing. Book now protected in a Brodart clear mylar protective cover. AN AMAZING COPY OF A TRULY BRILLIANT WORK BY STEPHEN CRANE.
Seller: The Modern Library, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. WAR IS KIND. , 1899.
Price: US$975.00 + shipping
Description: (Bradley, Will)illus. WAR IS KIND by Stephen Crane. (Artists of the Book in Boston 1890-1910, #54). Frederick Stokes, NY 1899 (1st Ed). Paper covered boards, 96pp., cover, title page, six full page illustrations and numerous vignettes by Bradley, who also printed the book. Although criticised as "weird" at the time of its publication, War Is Kind is now recognized as a Bradley masterpiece, and one of the most beautiful books of the Art Nouveau movement in America. Very Good, with a Reference Library stamp on the front pastedown, and the spine showing light wear, including a small chip at its top. With a pencilled inventory number from Heritage Book Shop, LA, on the rear free endpaper.
Seller: Edward T. Pollack, ABAA, Portland, ME, U.S.A.
CRANE, Stephen.. War is Kind.. Frederick A. Stokes Company,, NY:, 1899.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illustrated with drawings and cover design by Will Bradley. First edition. Octavo, bound in gray paper covered boards with black lettering and design. Bumped and worn at the spine ends and corners, hairline tear along the rear spine edge, else very good. In a glassine dust wrapper that is tattered, chipped, and age darkened. ; 96 pages
Seller: Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB, Springfield, MA, U.S.A.
CRANE, Stephen. War is Kind. , 1899.
Price: US$1100.00 + shipping
Description: CRANE, Stephen. War is Kind. Original pictorial boards, and illustrations, by Will Bradley. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1899. First edition. BAL 4083. Spine ends slightly worn, else a very good copy. Will Bradley, who had charge of the book's manufacture, and wrote to the publishers: "The book represents my best work up till now as a designer and printer. I have become greatly interested in it and want to make it my masterpiece."
Seller: G.S. MacManus Co., ABAA, Bryn Mawr, PA, U.S.A.
Crane, Stephen. War is Kind. Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1899.
Price: US$1750.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition.Bound in publisher's original decorated paper covered boards. Near Fine with toning and light soiling to covers and page edges. A fantastic copy of this otherwise fragile production, normally found much worse for wear.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
CRANE, STEPHEN.. War Is Kind. Drawings by Will Bradley. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1899, 1899.
Price: US$1750.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. Publisher's decorated boards; only trivial wear; a fine copy in a half-morocco slipcase with chemise. All books described as first editions are first printings unless otherwise noted.
Seller: Peter L. Stern & Co., Inc, Newton, MA, U.S.A.