CATHER, Willa; W.T. Benda, illus

My Ántonia [Inscribed Copy]

New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1918. First Edition. Inscribed in ink, on front endpaper: "Autographed for / Mary Elizabeth Couch [sp?]," signed by Cather and dated November 10, 1925. First printing. First state of text, with the plates on glazed paper. An externally unattractive copy, with pronounced biopredation to cloth on covers and spine. Internally clean, fresh, and unmarked; still, Good only, lacking the dustwrapper.

Third novel in what has come to be regarded as Cather's "Prairie Trilogy," following Oh Pioneers! (1913) and Song of the Lark (1915). The occasion of the inscription is uncertain (as is the recipient's surname, which we've been unable to decipher); however, we note in the marketplace (as of January, 2023) one other Cather inscription dated the same day, to the proprietor of an Illinois book-shop, suggesting Cather may have been touring to promote her 1925 novel The Professor's House. Though a somewhat unlovely copy, My Ántonia is genuinely uncommon in the first state and inscribed copies seldom appear.

Price: $1,500.00

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