THE LITERARY SHOP AND OTHER TALES. New York: Geo. H. Richmond & Co., 1894. 12mo, pp. [1-10] 1-298 [note: first leaf is a blank], original green cloth, paper label affixed to spine panel, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. First edition, first printing. Literary essays, short stories, and short plays, by a satirical New York journalist, all on the subject of periodical literature of the day. The long title piece is a meditation on the NEW YORK LEDGER, an important story paper during the second half of the nineteenth century, and, for a time, the most popular weekly in America; and about other periodicals of the day and their sometimes baneful influence on American writers. "The Poets' Strike" is a humorous fantasy about the conflict between homegrown verse and the new machine-manufactured stuff which is threatening the livelihood of poets. "Ancient Forms of Amusement" is another humorous fantasy, set in the future (A.D. 2203). "The Dying Gag" is an allegory. The book provides a useful window onto the world of New York journalism in the 1890s. Wright (III) 1960. Small bookplate affixed to front paste-down. Spine panel and spine label tanned, else a very good copy. (#117240).
Price: $35.00
No statement of printing on copyright page. Note: later printings are marked "second edition," etc.