Harold Bell Wright — Lot of 4 Vintage Novels (Reading Copies)

Four early novels by Harold Bell Wright — the minister-novelist of The Shepherd of the Hills — sold together as reading copies. These are honest, well-loved books: worn cloth, split hinges, a century of handling. If you want Wright on the shelf to read, not to display, this is your lot.

PLEASE READ BEFORE BUYING: The Calling of Dan Matthews in this lot is missing its back cover entirely. Its text is complete and readable, but the rear board is gone — please look at the photos and buy with that in mind.

The four:

1. The Re-Creation of Brian Kent — The Book Supply Company, 1919; illustrations by J. Allen St. John. The frontispiece is inscribed in ink, “With love to Auntie Sue from Betty Jo,” and the front endpaper carries a penciled owner’s name, “Jas. McClure Jr.,” with a Lebanon, Missouri bookseller’s stamp (Sam Farrar, druggist & bookseller). Rear hinge cracked with the mesh showing; spine ends frayed.

2. The Calling of Dan Matthews — The Book Supply Company, 1909 (first edition; “Published August, 1909”), illustrations by Arthur I. Keller. The roughest of the four: back cover missing, spine cloth torn and split at the head and along the joints, foxing to the pages. Text complete and readable.

3. When a Man’s a Man — A. L. Burt Company reprint (copyright 1916). The soundest binding in the lot. The front endpaper bears a gift inscription: “To Grandma from Will and Bessie, September 9th, 1919” — and a long-ago penciled price of 50¢. Boards scuffed with white marks.

4. Helen of the Old House — D. Appleton & Company (the novel was first published in 1921; this copy’s title page is missing, so the printing itself can’t be dated). Bright red boards, but the front hinge is split through, with the binding mesh showing. The front matter is missing — the book opens straight to page 3, Chapter I (see the last photo). Endpapers blank; light foxing.

Sold as a lot only. What you see in the photos is exactly what you get — every flaw we found is named above.