Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Riley, James Whitcomb. A child-world. Longmans Green, 1897.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Indianapolis, IN: The Bowen-Merrill Co., 1897. SIGNED and dated on the front free endpaper. First edition. Signature and date ("XMAS 1896") are apparently on a tipped-in leaf which Riley prepared before the books were bound and ready for distribution. Retains the original deep red to the spine and boards with gilt titles and top edge gilting. Top of spine is pushed in and worn moderately but otherwise clean and firm. Very good condition (esp. for its age) with no internal markings. NOT ex-library.
Seller: White Square - Fine Books & Art, Easthampton, MA, U.S.A.
Riley, James Whitcomb. A Child-World. The Bowen Merrill Company, Indianapolis and Kansas City, 1897.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first state. Frontispiece by Will Vawter. 8vo. Inscribed by the Riley Brothers, With a Poem. Inscribed on an inserted leaf, "Mr Charles F. Clark. With compliments of Jno. A Riley" with a poem below in James' hand, beginning, "In this book of simple rhyme / Spare your scythe, old Father Time!" and inscribed, "James Whitcomb Riley. Indiannapolis, Ind., Oct. 1896." A number of presentation leaves were prepared before the book's publication, hence the early date in the inscription (cf. Russo, p. 65). BAL 16622; Russo, pp. 64-66 Original burgundy cloth gilt. Light wear to spine ends, else fine. Bookplate of Ella Mabel Clark Frontispiece by Will Vawter. 8vo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 12mo. [1], 209 pages, [1] page blank, [14] pages of advertisements. Frontispiece emgraving. Red cloth hardcover with gilt border and title stamped on the front cover. Gilt title and decorations on spine. Top edge gilt. Light edge wear to cloth head and base of spine. Light soil to front cover. Illustrated rooster book plate of "John F. Mitchell, Jr. Greenfield, Indiana" located on the front paste down. Inscribed by Riley on the right front end sheet. "For Mr and Mrs. John F. Mitchell. With best greetings of their old friend James Whitcomb Riley - Indianapolis, Oct. 9 1896." Association copy. John F. Mitchell was the editor and publisher of the Hancock Democrat located in Greenfield Indiana. He took over his father's company, the Wm. Mitchell Printing Company, in 1890. Before John Mitchell took over his father's business, James Whitcomb Riley had an office at the company and wrote some of his early poems there. John F. Mitchell, Jr. joined his father's business in 1907.
Seller: Americana Books, ABAA, Stone Mt, GA, U.S.A.