AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925. First edition. Two volumes. The trade edition, preceding the limited. One of Dreiser's most acclaimed books: a Haycraft-Queen title; on the Time 100 list; and made into a film in 1931 under this title and again in 1951 as "A Place in the Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters. Gold stamped spine lettering a little dull but both volumes otherwise good to very good with small stain to fore edge volume one; in fair to good dust jackets badly browned on the fragile spines but with less browning to the panels which are about very good. Both jackets have been repaired with archival tape on verso of spines, and volume 1 is missing large chips on each end. Still, scarce in any semblance of the jackets. In custom cloth slipcase with facsimile of the original printed label laid on. Provenance: Clive Hirschhorn's name dated June 1986 and bookplates of G. Catalani on front pastedown of each volume. Hirschhorn is known for his long tenure as film and theater critic for the British Sunday Express newspaper and as the author of several well-received books about the film industry and its stars. Catalani's bookplates were etched by John Bullock Souter with his initials in the plate. The 4.25 x 5.5" bookplates bear the image of a naked woman at play with two dogs on a platform at the edge of the sea with sailboat in background. Furthermore, with a postcard from the The Alcove in Cambridge, Mass., from December 1925 quoting these volumes to a "Mr. B. Rowland.