David Harum : a story of American life

New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1900, 1900. Book. Fair. Hardcover. Illustrated edition ; viii, 392 p. ; 20 cm. ; ISBN: 141791310X; 9781417913107 LCCN: 07-741 ; LC: PZ3.W522; PS3159.W12; PS3159.W12; Dewey: 813.4 ; OCLC: 276391 ; yellow, green and red cloth ; no dustjaket ; "Most of the scenes are laid in central New York, where the author, Edward Noyes Westcott, was born, September 24, 1847, and where he died of consumption, March 31, 1898. Nearly all his life was passed in his native city of Syracuse, and although banking and not authorship was the occupation of his active years, yet his sensitive and impressionable temperament had become so saturated with the local atmosphere, and his retentive memory so charged with facts, that when at length he took up the pen he was able to create in David Harum a character so original, so true, and so strong, yet withal so delightfully quaint and humorous, that we are at once compelled to admit that here is a new and permanent addition to the long list of American literary portraits." ; "Harum was an inveterate horse-trader and considered engaging in the dubious practices long associated with this activity as morally justified by the expectation that similar practices would be employed by his adversary. In principle, he contended that this made horse-trading quite different from other lines of business, yet in practice most business dealings seemed to him to be a species of horse trading, justifying considerable deviation from conventional standards of probity. The fact that these sentiments were placed in the mouth of an elderly country banker -- on the face of it, a clear spokesman for traditional values -- was particularly appealing in that it made these business ethics appear a reflection of the practices of shrewd businessmen through the ages rather than an indicator of moral degeneration. Harum's version of the Golden Rule -- Do unto the other feller the way he'd like to do unto you, an' do it fust."--wikipedia ; illustrated by West Clinedinst; covers mottled, spine sunned ; water stain at bottom ; FAIR.