Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Lardner, Ring.. You Know Me Al. A Busher's Letters.. George H. Doran Company, 1916.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: A Good only copy in rust-colored cloth, lacking the dustwrapper. Cocked, covers well-worn, binding cracked at first signature, rear gutter gone. Despite this, a clean text with no writing or foxing. 247pp. Perhaps the greatest baseball book ever, aside from The Natural. Q05147
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
ring w lardner. you know me al. george h doran, 1916.
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: dj: none. book: avg, boards slightly soiled, cocked, owner's rubber stamp fep
Seller: Thylacine Books, Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A.
Lardner, Ring. You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters. George H. Doran Company, 1916.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition, second state buff/tan cloth with black stamped lettering and illustration. Front hinge starting. War Service library book plate on inside front cover.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First Edition. First binding in the gold, not rust, colored cloth. Book is good only, with hinges starting and several signs of wear. Ownership stamp on rear pastedown. Laid in is an extremely RARE bookmark with Lardner's image at top, with a quote from H.L. Mencken and a list of Lardner's books. The Mencken quote is from "The American Language."
Seller: sonalsorises, los angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Lardner, Ring W.. You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters. George H. Doran, 1916.
Price: US$225.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: In rust-colored cloth with light rubbing. Blank rear end paper has been removed. Previous owner inscription.
Seller: Jay W. Nelson, Bookseller, IOBA, Austin, MN, U.S.A.
LARDNER, Ring W.. You Know Me Al.. George H. Doran, New York, 1916.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: 247 pp. 8vo, publisher's decorated cloth, lacking the very scarce dust jacket. First edition. Tiny bookplate to rear pastedown; rear hinge neatly repaired; a few spots of foxing to preliminaries; some light use and soiling to cloth; a very good copy of a scarce book.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK BRICK RED CLOTH COVERED BOARDS WITH GILT TITLES TO SPINE AND FRONT COVER WITH BLACK SQUARED VIGNETTE OF HEAD OF BASEBALL PLAYER ON THE FRONT COVER. OTHER THAN SOME SPOTTING TO THE REAR COVER AND NEAT STRENGTHENING OF THE INTERIOR FRONT HINGE A NICE COPY WITH SPINE A BIT COLOR-FADED WITH CONSEQUENT DULLING OF THE SPINE'S GILT TITLES, MODEST WEAR AT THE CORNERS AND SPINE-ENDS, AND SOME SCATTERED LIGHT SMUDGE/SOIL TO TEXT, AND A FEW PAGES THAT ARE DOG-EARED. NONETHELESS A NICE COPY OF LARDNER'S SCARCE FIRST BOOK.
Seller: JOHN LUTSCHAK BOOKS, BURLINGTON, WI, U.S.A.
Lardner, Ring. YOU KNOW ME AL: A Busher's Letters. George H. Doran Company (1916), New York, 1916.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. The book consists of stories that were written as letters from a professional baseball player, Jack Keefe, to his friend Al Blanchard in their hometown of Bedford, Indiana. It was subsequently a nationally syndicated comic strip scripted by Lardner and drawn by Will B. Johnstone and Dick Dorgan. The book has minor wear on corners and spine ends, spine lettering color faded out, and a little cocked, otherwise very good, lacking dust jacket.
Seller: Quill & Brush, member ABAA, Middletown, MD, U.S.A.
LARDNER, RING. You Know Me, Al. George H. Doran, New York, 1916.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition. First issue rust cloth with gilt stamping. This sports satire, written in the form of letters from a bush league ballplayer to a friend back home, was Lardner's first successful book. In a 2006 Wall Street Journal article, Andrew Ferguson calls You Know Me, Al a masterpiece and includes it in his list of the top five American humor classics that are enduringly funny. Very good plus, with gilt a little dulled on spine, light wear to cloth at spine ends, small bookplate on front pastedown, lacking the rare dustjacket.
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
Lardner, Ring. You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters. George H. Doran Company, New York, 1916.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. 247 p. First issue crimson cloth with gilt lettering, black stamped illustration. Very Good condition. No jacket. Clean, bright pages. Hinges a bit tender, gilt one spine darkened. Foxing to top edge. Slight cock to spine. An epistolary novel of a baseball player's coming of age. Lardner's paired-down, vernacular prose style was extremely influential.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Lardner, Ring.. You Know Me Al.. George H. Doran Company, 1916.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A Very Good or better copy in in rust-colored cloth, stamped in gilt at spine and on front cover, with player's profile motif. Lacking the very scarce dustwrapper. 247pp. Top edge dusty. Spine dulled but gilt quite readable. Spine points rubbed. Very slightly cocked. Text and endpapers clean and unmarked, binding, gutters sound. Overall a tight copy with no major flaws. Classic novel of the early days of professional baseball, seen through the eyes of a young aspiring pitcher. Q12927
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Ring Lardner. You Know Me Al. George H. Doran, 1916.
Price: US$595.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Beautiful Copy of This Baseball Classic First Edition Rust Color. Excellent and Fresh Rare In This Condition.
Seller: Jeff Bergman Books ABAA, ILAB, Flemington, NJ, U.S.A.