WINESBURG, OHIO: A GROUP OF TALES OF OHIO SMALL TOWN LIFE by Anderson, Sherwood - 1919

New York: B. W. Huebsch,. 1919. original mustard cloth, publisher's device stamped in blind on front panel, white paper label printed in black affixed to spine panel, top edge of text block stained mustard yellow, map of Winesburg, Ohio, printed in black on front paste-down.. A fine copy in very good printed dust jacket with shallow chipping at. spine ends and upper and lower edges of rear panel, rubbing along. spine and flap folds, and some general, mostly mild, dust soiling.. The jacket's typography is totally intact; uncommon in jacket. A very. nice copy in un-restored jacket. (#109872). First edition. First printing with title frame unbroken on right side, "lay," line 5 down, page 86 and battered type in the word "the," line 3 down, page 251. The yellow-orange top edge stain or lack thereof, is not a point of issue; most copies of the first printing have the top edge stained. An important milestone in American literature, a gallery of grotesques, many of the stories set in the pre-automotive past. Anderson, experiencing a mid-life crisis after reading Gertrude Stein's THREE LIVES and Edgar Lee Masters' SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, feigned insanity and left his job to become a writer and evangelist of modern American fiction. He traveled widely and converted young journalists such as Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner to the cause. His influence on twentieth century American fiction is deep and widespread, extending even to this book serving as a model for Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. "WINESBURG, OHIO made a stir among the critics and pleased such writers as Dreiser and Carl Sandburg. It was rather widely attacked by the prudish ...." - Spiller, et al. (ed), Literary History of the United States, 3rd ed., p. 1232. For an example of the negative view, see Quinn, American Fiction, p. 657. Spiller also notes the "mystical" note often found in these stories, which were driven by character more than by plot. Smith, American Fiction, 1901-1925 243. Sheehy and Lohf 9. FPAA II, 14.