Jack London

First edition, first issue of one of the best-loved works of American literature, in scarce original dust jacket.

• Jack London (American).
• Illustrated by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull.
• Decorations by Charles Edward Hooper.
• New York and London: The Macmillan Company, 1903.
• 232 pages with one leaf of ads to rear.
• Full-page color frontispiece, 10 full-page color plates, and a number of full-page landscapes in printed blue with smaller blue and color illustrations throughout including illustrated endpapers of a dog team and mountain scene.
• Pictorial title page printed in black and blue.
• “Set up, electrotyped, and published July, 1903” on copyright page (BAL).
• With folded leaflet from Macmillan advertising this and other titles loosely laid in.
• Bound in original decorated green cloth binding with gilt lettering and with original pictorial dust jacket, top edge gilt, other edges uncut.
• Housed in custom cloth clamshell box.

Jack London’s animal fiction has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of Americans. A socialist, animal activist, and eugenicist, London was a complex man who participated in unemployment protests and the Alaskan Gold Rush. The working dogs of Alaska clearly left an impression on him, leading to several pieces of canine literature, the most famous of which is Call of the Wild.

Published in 1903, Call of the Wild hit the shelves in the second year of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency; Americans were hungry for the outdoors and red-blooded adventure stories. With its narrative of civilization pitted against instinct, the title was enthusiastically received by critics, and was an immediate hit. Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewers note that London “does not make the mistake of endowing his [dog] hero with superhuman qualities of intelligence and cunning,” praising his handling of the plot as “strikingly novel." A true classic, in remarkable condition.

Blanck, Bibliography of American Literature (BAL), 11876.