One of 10 in a Still-White Jacket

The Wonderful Country [One of 10]

Lea, Tom

Publication: Boston and El Paso: Little, Brown and Company, 1952. First Edition.

Notes: One of 10 special copies of the first edition issued by Carl Herzog in a clamshell box with a small print of a Lea painting.

A. C. Greene, in his list of the Fifty Best Books on Texas described this book as "A Texas novel almost without flaws, done with an economy of words and emotions." At the time this deluxe presentation was done by Herzog, he and Lea were working on The King Ranch, a now classic history of the largest ranch in Texas.

Copies of this very limited edition seldom come on the market. In fact, this copy is the only copy in the auction records, selling for $747 at PBA in 2005 and for $1,434 at Heritage in 2009. Since then, it has been in the collection of Tom Garner, late of Texas.

Edition + Condition: First edition (stated). This book always tans over time, but not this copy, which remains bright white, with no darkening of the cloth. The book is signed by Lea on the title page. On the inside cover of the box is a small color print of a Lea painting of a cowboy on a horse. It is signed in the lower margin, with the signature touching both the box and the print.

This copy has the bookplate of William D. Coakley on the front pastedown and a gift inscription from his father on the copyright page. There is a coffee? stain on the verso of the jacket, just visible on the spine.

Item No: #232538

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