Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$115.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Complete in two volumes, published in 1941 and 1942. Bindings tight; pages clean; boards and spine show a touch of shelfwear. Vol. I is signed and numbered by Targ #328 of 500 copies; Vol. II is signed and numbered #70 of 500 copies. The introduction is fascinating: 'The obvious purpose of this book is to help the collector and dealer determine the approximate value of a given book and to help him check on dates, points and other data. There is still another reason for the publication of 'American Books and Their Prices.' The nations of Europe are at each other's throats and are slowly strangling themselves into destruction. Their cultures, too, are being discarded and in their places are being reared newly-minted credos, critiques and standards of art. It is incumbent, then, on us, as Americans, to preserve our own literary heritages so that, in the treasuring of them, we will prevent them from being consumed in the holocaust of blind hate with which our own tight little world is being threatened.' An enlargement and revision of Targ's 1931 volume 'American First Editions and Their Prices.' Hard not to wince at how little -- even in 1941 dollars! -- some modern classics were selling for. 'The Great Gatsby,' in dust jacket: $6.00. The second volume of this set is particularly uncommon. 4-1/2 x 7-1/4". 333 and 336 pages.
Seller: Washington Square Autographed Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.