NORTHWEST PASSAGE. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., MCMXXXVII [1937]. Octavo, two volumes, endpaper maps in volume I, frontispiece (portrait of Robert Rogers) in volume II, title page printed in brown and black, publisher's pictorial burgundy cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, front panel stamped in blind, top edge gilt, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. First edition, first printing. Copy 781 of 1050 numbered copies signed by Roberts. A historical novel set during the French and Indian Wars by one of America's finest historical novelists. The second volume includes documents, many reprinted here for the first time, on which the essentials of the novel are based. "NORTHWEST PASSAGE was first published in serial form in the SATURDAY EVENING POST, in one of the last decisions made by George Horace Lorimer before his retirement as editor of the POST, with Book 1 running in 1936 and Book 2 in 1937. The story became a national sensation and was the second best-selling novel in the U.S. in 1937, behind only GONE WITH THE WIND and was also the fifth best-selling novel in 1938" (Wikipedia). The St. Francis raid, depicted in the first half of the novel, inspired the 1940 movie with the same title, starring Spencer Tracy. The book also served as the basis for a 1958-1959 television series, which was more closely based on the 1940 movie than on the book. A fine copy with dust jackets and paper slipcase. The jacket for the first volume is missing most of the spine panel, the jacket for the second volume has a faded spine panel. The paper box is worn and has several splits along the edges. (#178215).
Price: $350.00
"SPECIAL FIRST EDITION (IN TWO VOLUMES)" on copyright page.