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The Valley of Decision

The Valley of Decision

The Valley of Decision

The Valley of Decision

by Wharton, Edith

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Very Good/No Jacket
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Steelton, Pennsylvania, United States
Item Price
A$74.58
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About This Item

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. In 1914, Scribner's released a uniform edition of Edith Wharton's novels and short story collections published up to that date. This is a First Thus from that special edition, rather than an actual First Edition. "The Valley of Decision" was Edith Wharton's first full-length novel, originally published in two volumes in 1902. This is its first release complete in one volume. This is also Wharton's first and only historical novel from a remote era, in this case Italy during the Italian Renaissance, yet contains some of the themes she would explore in her later Society novels. The book is in Very Good condition. (Click on photo.) It has red cloth covers with a handsome, woven design, a blind-stamped border and Scribner logo on the front panel, and spine titles in gilt within a deeper red rectangle with a gilt border. The binding is tight and secure, and the pages are clean and bright, with no marks or inscriptions from former owners. I noticed one page tear, on Page 335. There is some very light foxing on the endpapers that doesn't affect the text itself. The book measures 5 1/4 by 7 3/4 inches and includes 656 pages. (NOTE: At the time of listing, I am also selling a 1902 First Edition, Second State -- Manhattan Press -- in two volumes. Check my inventory.). First Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Synopsis

Life at Pontesordo was in truth not very pleasant for an ardent and sensitive little boy of nine, whose remote connection with the reigning line of Pianura did not preserve him from wearing torn clothes and eating black bread and beans out of an earthen bowl on the kitchen doorstep."Go ask your mother for new clothes!" Filomena would snap at him, when his toes came through his shoes and the rents in his jacket-sleeves had spread beyond darning. "These you are wearing are my Giannozzo's, as you well know, and every rag on your back is mine, if there were any law for poor folk, for not a copper of pay for your keep or a stitch of clothing for your body have we had these two years come Assumption--. What's that? You can't ask your mother, you say, because she never comes here? True enough--fine ladies let their brats live in cow-dung, but they must have Indian carpets under their own feet. Well, ask the abate, then--he has lace ruffles to his coat and a naked woman painted on his snuff box--What? He only holds his hands up when you ask? Well, then, go ask your friends on the chapel-walls--maybe they'll give you a pair of shoes--though Saint Francis, for that matter, was the father of the discalced, and would doubtless tell you to go without!" And she would add with a coarse laugh: "Don't you know that the discalced are shod with gold?"It was after such a scene that the beggar-noble, as they called him at Pontesordo, would steal away to the chapel and, seating himself on an upturned basket or a heap of pumpkins, gaze long into the face of the mournful saint.

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Details

Bookseller
Grimalkin Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
000553
Title
The Valley of Decision
Author
Wharton, Edith
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Very Good
Jacket Condition
No Jacket
Edition
First Thus
Publisher
Charles Scribner's Sons
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1914
Keywords
American Literature
Bookseller catalogs
American Literature; Historical Fiction;
Size
8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

Terms of Sale

Grimalkin Books

Grimalkin Books is located in Steelton, Pennsylvania, the first town south of Harrisburg. We specialize in older, unusual books and sets, often literary, artistic, or historical. "Grimalkin" is old English for an old gray cat, mainly because the owner, Bob Amsel, is a cat lover. All books subject to prior sale. Payment must be received within 10 days of the order or item will be returned to stock. We accept money orders, bank checks, personal checks (allow time to clear), PayPal or MasterCard/Visa through Biblio's credit card processing service. International orders must be paid in US dollars and can be paid via PayPal, credit card (through ABE), or International Postal Money Order. Your purchase will be carefully packaged to protect it during shipping. Books may not be returned just because the buyer has changed his mind. Only books with actual defects that were not mentioned by the seller in the listing may be returned. Please insure returns for their full value.

About the Seller

Grimalkin Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2005
Steelton, Pennsylvania

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Tight
Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Uniform Edition
A collection or series of individual volumes of an author's work bound to match with a uniform size and style. Especially common...
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Second State
used in book collecting to refer to a first edition, but after some change has been made in the printing, such as a correction,...

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