The Log of the Snark, a presentation copy inscribed, signed, and dated by the author, Jack London's widow, and featuring her personal bookplate

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1925. First edition, third printing. Hardcover. This is the 1925 printing of Charmian London’s account of her voyage with her husband, Jack, inscribed, signed, and dated by the author and featuring her bookplate. Inked in ten lines on the front free endpaper recto, Charmian wrote: “To Dr. Frank B. Kirby: The author hopes that | your life has fulsome | adventure as much to your | liking as was this one to | Jack and | Charmian London. | Glen Ellen, | California | 1929.” On the front pastedown, facing the inscription, is Charmian’s illustrated bookplate. Appropriate to the title, the plate features a woman astride a horse, the pair surrounded by waves.

This third printing of May 1925 followed the first of October 1915 and the second of November 1916. The book contains no other ownership marks. Condition is good plus – sound, internally clean, and complete, though showing exterior wear. The illustrated binding has a forward lean, shows light soiling and shelf wear to extremities, including the corners, spine ends, and the upper front joint. The spine is mildly toned and the gilt on both the spine and front cover is scuffed and dulled. The contents are mildly age-toned but otherwise clean, with no spotting or soiling.

When Charmian ` (1871-1955) first met Jack – five years her junior – “London found her literary knowledge impressive and they both hit it off.” Nonetheless, Jack married someone else, a marriage that ended in divorce in 1904. “A year after the divorce was finalized, Jack and Charmian were married in Chicago on November 19, 1905.” Charmian was a vital partner to Jack. “Beginning with London’s classic novel, The Sea-Wolf, Charmian edited most of London’s writing.  She also collaborated and contributed passages to many other works.”

The Londons settled in Glen Ellen. “Upon re-reading Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World together, they decided to plan their own journey around the world on a small yacht they planned to build themselves. After many delays, they sailed to the South Seas. Charmian would write her first book about their travels, entitled, The Log of the Snark (1915) which first appeared serially in Mid-Pacific Magazine. The book provided a daily log of their adventures traveling through the South Seas. Charmian drew from the writing of Isabel Bird for inspiration. Due to Jack’s serious health issues, the couple had to abandon their ambition to travel the world and return to the Bay Area from Sydney, Australia. The Log was well received by reviewers, who described the book as a “vivacious account of their remarkable adventure.” Charmian also wrote two more books that drew from their Snark journey: Our Hawaii and Our Hawaii: Islands and Islanders.”

During the journey, Charmian kept a journal, upon which she drew for The Log of the Snark. In it, she details, day by day, “the trials, challenges, and joys of sailing a small boat through mostly wild islands. The book includes a number of photographs she took on the trip.

“When Jack died of uremia at the age of 40 in 1916… Charmian arranged for the publication of all of Jack’s finished and unfinished work… Encouraged by Jack’s publisher at Macmillan, Charmian wrote and published a two-volume biography about her husband... During the 1920s and 1930s Charmian traveled throughout Europe where she promoted her own writing and secured translations of Jack’s. Sometimes speaking to upwards of 23,000 people, Charmian remained a celebrity.” (Jack London State Historic Park)