John Henry

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931. Hardcover. Illustrations by J.J. Lankes. 8vo. Green decorated cloth with gold foil spine label. vi, 225pp, (1p), (4pp ads). Two-color woodcut frontispiece, numerous small woodcuts, pictorial endpapers. Very good. Mild binding edgewear only, else internally tight and near fine. Attractive first edition of this novelization of the African-American folk hero by this once-popular writer. Choice autograph addition: Tipped to inner flyleaf is an outstanding content Autograph Letter Signed from Bradford's wife, writer Mary Rose Sciarra Himler (who signs "Mary Rose Bradford"), 1p, 8" X 10", New Orleans, LA, 5 October 1940. Addressed to noted Lincoln/Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Very good. On imprinted letterhead, she writes in blue ink to this admirer of her husband and discusses his writing method. In part: "Thank you, too, Mr Bradford says, for your birthday wishes. Yes, it is quite true, he wrote 'Kingdom Coming' in 24 days. However, when you realize that he thought about it and mulled over it for 5 years, it does not, after all, seem a remarkable feat. By the time he began to write it, every detail was clear to him. Even Mr B's short stories for Collier's take 6 weeks to 2 months of thought. He writes them in a few days....