The Unpublishable Memoirs by Rosenbach, A. S. W - 1917

New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1917. SEE PHOTOS. Very Good condition in the uncommon dust jacket. The jacket is protected by a removable Brodart clear-plastic sleeve. NOT price clipped ($1.50). The jacket is GOOD, with finger soil and a few small chips at the extremities. Clear tape reinforced on the blank side. Spine of the jacket is sun darkened. SEE PHOTOS. One corner of the cover is a little bumped, but NO pages are affected (i.e. there are NO page creases). Pages are clean and unmarked. 1917. First Edition. Frontispiece and front panel of the jacket depict Oliver Herford's drawing, "The Bibliofiends." This is collection of 11 amusing mystery stories about an unscrupulous rare bookseller named Robert Hooker. It is cited in Ellery Queen's THE DETECTIVE SHORT STORY, A BIBLIOGRAPHY (p. 96). Dr. Rosenbach was the 20th century's greatest and most influential rare book dealer. This is his only work of fiction. According to Matthew Bruccoli's biography of Kennerley, this book did not sell well, but "it gained wide exposure in the rare book world from the complimentary copies distributed by the author and publisher… [and] was nicely calculated to stimulate interest in book collecting and to enhance the author's reputation as a book raconteur." This copy bears the handsome red leather bookplate of Robert P. Oreck (of Oreck vacuum cleaner fame?). Bound in the original maroon cloth, stamped in bright gold on the spine. Complete with the rare dust jacket. Boice [THE MITCHELL KENNERLY IMPRINT, A DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY] 1917.18. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good condition/Good dust jacket. Illus. by Herford, Oliver (jacket art and frontispiece). x, 160pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.