N BY E.

New York: Literary Guild, 1930. Book Club Edition. Very good plus in custom slipcase.. Twice inscribed copy of this boldly illustrated shipwreck adventure story, inscribed by Rockwell Kent to Washington D.C. poet Ernest Kroll. The National Gallery of Art notes that, for Rockwell Kent, "exploration and artistic production were twinned endeavors, and his travels to these rugged, rural locales provided inspiration for both his visual art and his writings"; the results of this inspiration are on full display in N BY E. Kent's illustrations, which often depict the feeling of his adventures in Greenland rather than their reality, evoke the dreamy figures of William Blake passed through an Art Deco lens.
This copy once belonged to noted DC poet and State Department employee Ernest Kroll. In a Thermofax copy of a response to a letter to Kroll, included in this copy of N BY E, Kent expresses amusement that someone writing on "State Department stationary" was expressing interest in his work: "the late Senator McCarthy," Kent explains, "in retaliation for my refusal to co-operate with him, ordered all my books in overseas libraries to be destroyed." An outspoken supporter of the Soviet Union, it is little surprise that McCarthy had no love for Kent's work. 8.5'' x 6''. Original brown cloth boards with light green lettering and embellishment. Illustrated with numerous black-and-white woodcuts. xii, 282 pages. Front flyleaf inscribed by Kent in 1966 to Ernest Kroll, "to complement his possession / of my color lithograph, 'Sermalik Fjord' - / and in warm appreciation of his liking for my work." Also inscribed by Kent on page 206 "The above is of the scene / pictured in my lithograph (colored) / 'Sermalik Fjord.'" With Thermofax copy of letter to Mr. Kroll from Kent, dated 1965, loosely laid in. In custom green cloth slipcase with leather spine and pigskin onlay, made by D & D Galleries. Lacks dust jacket. Binding with mild edgewear, a few light spots; some sunning to spine. Spine cracked to a couple openings, occasional offsetting from illustrations. Sharp overall.