A BEAUTIFUL EARLY EDITION OF ‘CALL OF THE WILD’ INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY JACK LONDON
Jack London. The Call of the Wild. New York: Macmillan Company and London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1908. Later impression. Signed and inscribed by London on front free endpaper, “To Mary E. Beebe- / Sincerely yours, / Jack London / Glen Ellen, Calif., / Aug. 22, 1910”. Octavo. [5]-231 pages, [232, blank], two-page publisher’s catalog. Illustrated by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull. Publisher’s green cloth with gilt, white, red, and black stamping to front and spine. Top edge gilt, other edges uncut. Illustrated endpapers.A bright copy in near fine condition.
The Call of the Wild is Jack London’s best-known book. It follows Buck, a huge Saint Bernard, as he is kidnapped from his comfortable life in California and transported to the Klondike Gold Rush. His abductors sell him to be used as a sled dog for the miners in the North. He slowly discovers his ancient roots as his civilized upbringing is slowly eroded by the harsh realities of life on the trail. London drew upon his experience in the Yukon to produce a realistic adventure.