[Rarebooks] FS: James Russell Lowell INSCRIBED to Publisher John Owen with a SIGNED Letter from Lowell to Owen

[Charles Agvent]

LOWELL, James Russell. THE POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 
Boston: James R. Osgood & Company, 1876. Household Edition. Publisher's 
gilt-decorated green cloth in red cloth dustwrapper with gilt-lettered 
red morocco spine labels. Presentation copy INSCRIBED on the front blank 
from the author to John Owen, the publisher of Lowell's CONVERSATIONS ON 
SOME OF THE OLD POETS: "To/Mr. John Owen/with the author's regards./16th 
May, 1877." Tipped to the front endpaper is an AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 
from the author to the publisher regarding the terms of publication of 
the above volume, written from Elmwood, 18th Feby. 1876. In full: "Dear 
Mr. Ticknor, I return you the contracts. I think that hitherto there has 
been a specific statement of the number of copies to which the author is 
entitled, which I do not find in these. If the new contract is in the 
same terms as that you have made with Mr. Longfellow (with the 
exception, of course, of the amount to be paid), I am ready to sign it, 
as I told you, though my friends think that I should have held out for a 
larger sum. But that I leave as before to your own judgment of what is 
fair to both sides. Very truly yours, J. R. Lowell." An interesting 
insight into the negotiation process between a major 19th century author 
and his publisher. From the William Harris Arnold and Frank Maier 
collections, with bookplates of both on the front pastedown along with 
bookplates of Thomas Wallace and Henry Andrews Ingraham. This copy sold 
at the auction of Arnold's books in 1901 and again in the sale of 
Wallace's library in 1920. Both sales describe the dustwrapper as being 
present and while it is certainly contemporary to the period, we cannot 
be certain that it was issued by the publisher. The ink in the letter is 
dark and clear. The covers are bright and the dustwrapper has only minor 
wear at the spine tips with wear to the labels. Close to Fine in a Near 
Fine dustwrapper.

In addition to publishing Lowell, John Owen was a schoolmate and 
lifelong friend of Longfellow as well as the publisher of his first 
works. His other friends included Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin 
Pierce. (#020933)        $1,500

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/020933/james-russell-lowell/the-poetical-works-of-james-russell-lowell

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