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Main Street
by Lewis, Sinclair
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Deep River, Connecticut, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe and by The First Edition Library, 1920. Facsimile First Edition Library Reprint. Fine in dark blue cloth covered boards with bright orange outlined text on the spine and on the front board. A small octavo measuring 7 3/8 by 5 inches. In a fine reproduction dust jacket with the "FEL" logo on the rear flap with wrinkling to the upper edge of the spine area. Both the book and its jacket are contained within a fine gray cloth covered slip case with the front and rear panels of the dust jacket reproduced on the slip case. The First Edition Library slip describing the book and its printing is laid-in at the front of this copy. 451 pages of text. A faithful reproduction of the first edition of this classic of American literature with the points of issue present.
Synopsis
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is a satirical novel concerning small town America. The story follows Carol Milford, a liberal and free-spirited woman, as she marries Dr. William Kennicott and settles in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Upon arrival, Carol is shocked by the conservatism and general backwardness of Gopher Prairie—which is loosely based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The residents of Gopher Prairie seem more interested in gossip than larger cultural or social issues, which frustrates Carol. In various attempts to reform the town, she implements one improvement project after another, all of them ending in failure. In the end, Carol realizes that her frustrations with the individuals of the town should really have been directed towards its institutions and that although she was been beaten, she has kept the faith. Lewis initially seems to be attacking his small town roots in the novel, but his satire is double-edged; Main Street is not only a critique of simple townspeople, but also of the superficial intellectuals who look down on them. Main Street was not expected to be a commercial success. Lewis anticipated selling 10,000 copies; Harcourt, Brace and Howe anticipated 20,000. In the first six months of 1921, Main Street sold over 180,000 copies. Main Street is ranked 68th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was initially awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature that year, but the Board of Trustees overturned the decision and gave the prize to Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence instead. (In 1925, Lewis rejected the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith because he felt that he had deserved the prize for Main Street.)
Read More: Identifying first editions of Main Street
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Details
- Bookseller
- Town's End Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- TB33096
- Title
- Main Street
- Author
- Lewis, Sinclair
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- Facsimile First Edition Library Reprint
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Harcourt, Brace and Howe and by The First Edition Library
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1920
Terms of Sale
Town's End Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Town's End Books
Biblio member since 2009
Deep River, Connecticut
About Town's End Books
We purchase and sell only collectible first editions in a number of fields all focused on Americana. We are primarily mail order sellers; however, we are open by appointment and welcome visits from customers.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
- Slip Case
- A protective sleeve, often made of decorative cardboard or leather which houses a book. It is open on one end, so as to allow...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Points of Issue
- Points are physical attributes that are specific to a printing or edition of a book, such as a typo on a specific page that was...
- 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....
- 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...
- Laid-in
- "Laid In" indicates that there is something which is included with, but not attached to the book, such as a sheet of paper. The...
- Facsimile
- An exact copy of an original work. In books, it refers to a copy or reproduction, as accurate as possible, of an original...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
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