[Rarebooks] FS: Signed First Edition of Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE, with a fine autograph quote: "Oh thou black jungle of a world"

[Charles Agvent]

 From our latest internet-only catalogue: Spring 2008 containing 77 fine 
pieces and now posted on our website: http://www.erols.com/agvent

SINCLAIR,  Upton. THE JUNGLE. New York: Jungle Publishing  Company
(1906).  First Edition. In full black morocco by Root & Son with  five
raised  bands,  gilt  lettering and dentelles, top  edge  gilt.  First
state  with the "Sustainer's Edition" label mounted on a front  blank.
Sinclair's  powerful  exposure of the Chicago  meat-packing  industry,
still  a  staple on the menus of many high school reading  lists.  His
account  of  the social and human abuses of the yards,  where  packers
used  "everything  about  the  hog except the squeal,"  led  to  major
reforms  in the industry and, along with UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, is one  of
the  few  American novels to have a lasting impact on the way we  live
our  lives.  Indeed,  when this book was published Jack  London  said,
"What  Uncle Tom's Cabin did for black slaves, The Jungle has a  large
chance  to do for the white slaves of today." Later in life,  Sinclair
said  of  his  masterpiece:  "I aimed at the  public's  heart  and  by
accident  I hit it in the stomach." This copy INSCRIBED and SIGNED  by
the  author  on a front blank to Thomas W. Lawson and with a quote  in
the  author's  hand from his earlier book JOURNAL OF ARTHUR  STIRLING:
"'Oh  thou black jungle of a world!/There savage beasts through forest
midnight  roam,/Seeking in sorrow for each other's joy.'" Lawson was a
wealthy  stock  speculator and author of both fiction  and  nonfiction
books  concerning  the stock market. Although he once paid  a  florist
thirty  thousand  dollars  for a single carnation for  his  wife,  his
fortunes  declined after writing an expose of the market and he died a
relatively poor man. Fine with an outstanding presentation.   $6000.00

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CHARLES AGVENT
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Mertztown, PA  19539-8750
610-682-4750
agvent at erols.com
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