The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains by WISTER, Owen - 1902

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902. Hardcover. Illustrations by Arthur I. Keller. Small 8vo. Tan cloth with gilt-bordered red lettering and red and black decorative and pictorial stamping. xiii, 504pp, (6pp ads). Frontispiece, 7 full-page called-for plates. Very good overall. Mild bit of binding edgewear; front inner hinge cracked but expertly, archivally strengthened, thus tight; ownership signature/address on half-title page. Despite moderate wear, a decently tight and fairly attractive first edition with proper points of this genre-defining classic that jump-started Westerns and helped create some of its many stereotypes. This copy bears two interesting additions: First is an Autograph Note Signed from Karl Wister (Charles, 1908-69, one of Wister's six children), 1p, 6" X 7", Saunderstown, RI, 3 August 1938. Addressed to future notable Lincoln and Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Near fine. Tipped to inner flyleaf, on letterhead of the novelist's estate "Crowfield," the son writes, "Thank you for your letter of sympathy. The family appreciates messages from those who enjoyed my father's writings...." Boldly penned and signed in black ink. (Wister had died at age 78 on 21 July 1938.) Second is, on front flyleaf, a large and bold signature in black fineline of actor Marc Lawrence, heavy stock 5" X 3" card, n.p., dated by him 9 January 1985 at upper right. Fine. This character actor (1910-2005), who specialized in "heavies" such as gangsters, mob bosses and other unsavory underworld types in an enormous number of films between 1932 and 2003, portrayed "Pete" in the 1946 film version of "The Virginian" starring Joel McCrea. Laid in is the ideal bookmark: Lawrence's original signature transmittal envelope.