Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$675.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: [viii], 326 pages. Original hardcover binding with moderate shelfwear, including minor bumping to the corners. The original unclipped dustjacket is slightly faded on the spine, and is heavily shelfworn with numerous chips, tears, and creases; protected in archival mylar. Signed and lengthily inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front endpaper: 2 May 1947 Dear Dr. Whipple, I'm not so good a geographer as you. But you may find some sidelights on primitive life in here. Hope you don't edit it as roughly as Dr. Walters does! [signed] James A. Michener." Small stain to the bottom edge affecting about 24 pages. The text is consistently browned throughout but is clean and unmarked. Stated: Third printing.
Seller: Kurt Gippert Bookseller (ABAA), Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Michener, James. Tales of the South Pacific (SIGNED). Macmillan, New York, 1947.
Price: US$695.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Macmillan, New York. 1950. 326 pages. First Edition 11th printing Original DJ with $4.50 price intact on DJ flap. Signed and dated by James Michener on FFEP. Book is near fine with only flaw being some minor rubbing to cloth. Binding and hinges are strong. Pages lay tight. Endpapers are clean. DJ is bright and attractive. Light shelfrub at foot and crown of DJ spine; and flap fold. A very nice early copy of the classic and Pulitzer Prize winner; signed by James Michener.
Seller: Medium Rare Books, Mountainside, NJ, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. Tales Of The South Pacific. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$725.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo, v, [3], 326pp. Orange-beige cloth, title printed in blue on spine, light rubbing to edges. Stated "first printing" on copyright page. Solid text block, toning to leaves as expected. Housed in a facsimile dust jacket. This copy is signed by the author on a bookplate affixed to the front free endpaper. An attractive copy. Tales of the South Pacific is the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories by author James A. Michener. It follows his experience during World War II while stationed at Vanuatu. It was later adapted into a Broadway Musical (South Pacific) by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Michener won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948 and would go on to write over forty books during his lifetime.
Seller: The First Edition Rare Books, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
James A. Michener. Tales of the South Pacific [Signed]. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947. Second Printing. Signed by James Michener at front free endpaper, dated 31 March 1947 and with brief inscription to previous owner at front free endpaper. Octavo. 326 pp. Illustrated dust jacket with "$3.00" price present. Brown boards stamped in blue. Dust jacket chipped at base of spine with a few short tears and general rubbing. Boards bumped at extremities and binding is sound. Pages toned as is common with this title, but unmarked. Michener's first book, the loosely connected collection of tales went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into the Broadway musical South Pacific.
Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. Tales of the South Pacific. Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. 326 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed. Inscribed on the ffep: "Dear Ted (Spence), It's a deep pleasure to have this in the hands of a man who has been such a constant, friendly help. (and I phrsaed this before you got promoted!) Jim Michener." Groseclose A.003a; Eighty-Nine Good Novels of the Sea (Lilly Library) Original tan cloth, with front flap of jacket retained, very good
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. Tales of the South Pacific.. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Printing. A Fine copy in tan cloth stamped in blue, in a Very Good original dustwrapper, variant unclipped with $3.00 price at bottom corner. Book is the best example we've ever seen, virtually unworn, with almost none of the toning to text paper. Jacket has tiny loss to spine ends, flap tips. 326pp. SIGNED by Michener on a custom cameo card with title hand-typed in. Michener's first regularly published book, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and the basis for the 1949 Broadway musical South Pacific and later movie version [1958] with Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Ray Walston, etc. Q16667
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Michener, James. Tales of the South Pacific. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, first printing stated. Signed by James Michener, and inscribed to a former owner in the year of publication, reading "21 February 1947 / Dear Gates / Would that this had been pulled from the production line of the 30th printing. Live the poems of [?], these stories are sent to a friend -- and a fine one, too. [signed] Jim Michener." Bound in publisher's beige-orange colored cloth with spine stamped in blue. Very Good, with pages toned and cloth rubbed at the extremities. In a supplied later state dust jacket with price printed horizontally; lightly edgeworn and lightly edge-stained, and a bit rippled. Michener's first book, a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories about the Pacific Campaign in World War II.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
MICHENER, James. TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Description: Michener's first book and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This copy with a very early INSCRIPTION dated 27 May 1947 SIGNED by the author: "Dear Jim,/The first serious writing I/did came your way. This one/had a better fortune, thanks to the/passing of time and some millions of/acres of the Pacific. It's been a treat knowing you./Jim Michener." We can only speculate who Jim was, but obviously he was of some importance to Michener very early in his career. Housed in a handsome and recent navy blue half morocco clamshell box. The brittleness of the cheap paper, found in every copy we have seen, is much in evidence with a very short tear at the top margin running through nearly every page of the book. The covers also have short tears near the spine at the top and bottom. The upper front corner is bumped, and a darker shade at the very head of the spine indicates that a dustwrapper was present on this book for quite some time. All that is left is the rear flap which is laid in. Good copy only, but a great, early inscription and housed in a Fine box
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. Tales of the South Pacific. Macmillan, New York, 1947.
Price: US$3495.00 + shipping
Description: SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on a decorative bookplate. A VERY CLEAN, NICE COPY WITH A BRIGHT DUSTJACKET IN NEW, GLOSSY BRODART. 1st printing. NO PREVIOUS OWNER MARKINGS. 189 pages. Michener's first book and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Stated first printing on the copyright page. A handsome, collectible copy!
Seller: Books Plus, LLC, Lexington, SC, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. Tales of the South Pacific. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$4000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing SIGNED by James Michener on the page before the title page. This First Issue dustjacket has the publisher's $3.00 printed price present on the front flap with minor wear to the edges. The book is bound in the publisher's original cloth and is in great shape. The binding is tight with NO cocking or leaning with minor wear to the boards. The pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. A wonderful copy SIGNED by the author.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Michener, James A.. TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: Inscribed first edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Pacific campaign of WWII, adapted into a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and a film. James A. Michener's first novel was inspired by his time in the US Navy during the Second World War, serving in the Pacific theater. It is notable for how it addresses US racism towards Asian and Black people, decrying it as both morally reprehensible and harmful to military unity. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948, it was adapted into the now-classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which itself was adapted into an Oscar-winning film. An American classic with a delightful inscription. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original brown cloth binding with blue spine titles. Original unclipped ($3.00) color pictorial dust jacket with illustration by J. OH. Cosgrave II. 326 pages. Inscribed by Michener to front pastedown, dated 28 January 1947. Jacket restored, with some soiling to panels and a bit of cockling. Leaves toned to margins, as typical. Shows nicely. Near fine in very good restored dust jacket.
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.