THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, AND OTHER SKETCHES. Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1870. 12mo, pp. [i-iii] iv [v-viii] 1-239 [240: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, publisher's decorated brown cloth, front and rear panels stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, brown coated endpapers. First edition. This famous collection of short stories includes the classic "The Luck of Roaring Camp," "M'liss" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." The correct first edition, without the story "Brown of Calaveras." "Though other authors have done greater work, few have had a more profound influence on American letters than Bret Harte ... In a literary sense Harte's writings are historically among the most important of the local color school. In the larger sense he failed to report the forces which were developing the frontier. Yet despite his posturing and tendency to caricature, there was vitality in his method, and he was the first to create a type and form which, with timely modifications, have until recently dominated short story literature." - Fullerton, Selective Bibliography of American Literature 1775-1900, pp. 129-30. Grolier Club, One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900, no. 76. Powell, California Classics no. 7. Zamorano Eighty 40. Baird and Greenwood, California Fiction 1104. BAL 7246. Wright (II) 1117. Bookplate of author and book collector George Barr McCutcheon affixed to the front paste-down. Corner tips rubbed, mild fraying along fore-edge of front free endpaper, hairline split along inner front hinge, a very good copy. Tipped in is a short undated letter in Harte's hand addressed to "Mr. Chatto" [his English publisher], regretfully declining an invitation due to a prior commitment. A fairly nice copy of a book seldom found in better condition. (#178420).
Price: $1,000.00
No statement of printing.