Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Signed frontisepiece by T. de Thulstrup. Copy #283 of 350 copies. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall
Seller: Collectorsemall, Rialto, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: This is the complete set of 20 volumes bound in the original heavy but finely-woven green linen cloth with paper labels at the tops of the spines. There are numerous condition problems with this set: cracked hinges, heavy chipping and tearing at the tops of many of the spine ends; several paper labels are missing while others are heavily chipped. However, the interiors of the books are very good indeed. The volumes with the exceptions of the several with cracked hinges are clean and tight. With all the charming and action-packed illustrations present, many of them signed by prominent artists of the times: Frederic Remington, James M. Flagg, E. Boyd Smith, Frank Merrill, Eric Pape, Arthur Keller, Thomas Fogarty, and Seymour Stone. Volume I is inscribed "Bret Hart September 1896" on the "Author's Autograph Copy Page." A good, solid set of Harte's works in the original cloth which could use some restoration to the paper labels and the spine separations. Perhaps a suitable set for rebinding in moroccan leather. Francis Bret Harte (August 25, 1836 May 6, 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.His first literary efforts, including poetry and prose, appeared in The Californian, an early literary journal edited by Charles Henry Webb. In 1868 he became editor of The Overland Monthly, another new literary magazine, but this one more in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. His story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp", appeared in the magazine's second issue, propelling Harte to nationwide fame. Autograph edition signed by Bret Harte #223/350 copies.
Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$9500.00 + shipping
Description: HARTE, Bret. The Writings. WITH: MERWIN, Henry Childs. The Life of Bret Harte. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, (1896-1914); 1911. Together, twenty-one volumes. Octavo, contemporary full brown morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, covers, and full morocco doublures, raised bands, watered silk endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut and mostly unopened. $9500."Autograph Edition" of Hartes tales, essays and poems, number 336 of 350 sets signed and dated by him, illustrated with vignette title pages, 103 engraved platesincluding one signed by Frederic Remingtonand two-page color map of the Pacific coast, beautifully bound in full morocco-gilt with morocco doublures. Together with a 1911 first edition of Merwin's biography of Harte uniformly bound with the rest of the set.With the success of The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches (1870)"Eastern critics went headlong into eulogies" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 345)Harte found himself world-famous. His popular tales of California life, particularly those set in mining country, made him a star of the lecture circuit and helped create the local-color school of American fiction. "An ability to observe and retain, a good narrative sense and a palatable humor are responsible for [Harte's] continued prestige" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 346). These volumes include not only Harte's poetry and prose but also a biographical sketch of the author, a glossary of "Far-Western" terms and an index to characters. With the separately published Volume XX from 1914, as well as a 1911 first edition of Merwin's Life of Bret Harte, uniformly bound with the rest of the set. Each volume with half title and engraved general title page with vignette. Each volume with at least one plate signed by the artist, including the frontispiece of Volume V signed by Frederic Remington. BAL 7384. Very faint offsetting to limitation page, not affecting signature. A beautifully bound signed set in fine condition.
Seller: Bauman Rare Books, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$11960.00 + shipping
Description: 221 x 146 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 3/4"). 21 volumes. HANDSOME DARK BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, FROM THE BINDERY OF THE RIVERSIDE PRESS (stamp-signed on verso of front free endpaper), covers with gilt fillet frame and large floral wreath at center, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with Tudor rose centerpiece, gilt lettering, LIGHT GREEN MOROCCO DOUBLURES with pretty gilt frame, green watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, three volumes UNOPENED. Writings with title page vignettes and 134 PLATES, including 20 color frontispieces, portrait of the author, and 113 photogravure plates printed on India paper and mounted on heavy stock, at least one plate in each volume SIGNED in pencil by the artists, who include Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, M. J. Burns, Seymour M. Stone, Frederick McCormick, and Alice Barber Stephens; "Life" with frontispiece portrait and 16 plates. BAL 7384; BAL 7408. âA touch of sunning to spines, but A SUPERB SET inside and out, with only the most trivial imperfections. Offered here in an expansive deluxe edition in sumptuous bindings, this is a collection of works by a premier chronicler of the American West and the California Gold Rush, a writer whose vivid and romantic depictions did much to contribute to the region's allure. According to Day, "Harte's West is one of picturesque melodrama, sentimentality amidst the sordid, a boisterous flotsam-and-jetsam society set against spectacular scenery. . . . His pervasive technique was contrast, physically among the bizarre admixture of humanity in contemporary California, and morally within individuals (favorite Harte subjects are gamblers and harlots with hearts of gold and blasphemous miners who would weep copious tears over Little Nell)." Harte was part of a vibrant San Francisco literary scene that included Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce, and was also close to Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Our set is enhanced with illustrations by some of the leading artists of the West, including Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, who bring Harte's colorful characters, dramatic Western panoramas, and rowdy scenes to life. Our set was extravagantly bound at the Riverside Press bindery, and its yards of beautifully gilt crushed morocco make a striking appearance on the shelf. The "Writings" were issued in 19 volumes in 1896, followed by a 20th volume in 1903 and then Merwin's "Life" of Harte in 1914; not surprisingly, the set is frequently seen incomplete, without the two subsequent volumes that are present here. No. 59 of 350 COPIES of the Autograph Edition, SIGNED in the first volume BY THE AUTHOR and dated September 1896.
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.