“JUST A FEW PLACES OF A VOYAGE THAT PROVED SO HAPPY”: SCARCE PRESENTATION COPY OF CRUISE OF THE SNARK, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY JACK LONDON TO FELLOW WRITER ARTHUR TRAIN

LONDON, Jack. The Cruise of the Snark. New York: Macmillan, 1911. Octavo, original gray-blue cloth, mounted cover illustration, top edge gilt. Housed in a custom chemise and slipcase.

First edition, second printing, published same year as the first, a wonderful presentation copy warmly inscribed by Jack London to Arthur Train, the prominent lawyer and writer, “Dear Arthur Train:—Just a few places of a voyage that proved so happy that I wrote the dedication herein, Sincerely yours, Jack London, Glen Ellen, Calif, March 11, 1914,” with over 100 photographic illustrations and color frontispiece of the Snark.

The Cruise of the Snark is London’s lively account of his sailing trip across the Pacific with his wife Charmian in their 45-foot ketch, the Snark, from 1907 to 1909. Containing a color frontispiece and over 100 photographic illustrations (22 full page), Cruise of the Snark includes tales of his learning to surf, mountain climbing in Maui, his love of sailing and the sea, and much more. First edition, second printing: “Published June, 1911. Reprinted October, 1911” on copyright page. As issued with plate between pp. 270-271 not in list of illustrations; two leaves of publisher’s advertisements at rear. Serialized in magazines such as Harper’s Weekly. Without scarce dust jacket. See BAL 11929; Woodbridge, London and Tweney 89. Recipient Arthur Train is the prominent author and attorney who, like London, regularly published his stories in Cosmopolitan Magazine and, also like London, “undertook many different kinds of writing, from advertisements, vaudeville sketches, and news items to poems, stories and novels.” Train’s most popular character was a lawyer named Ephraim Tutt. “Train used the Tutt stories to demonstrate what he saw as the frequent conflict between law and justice… his significance lies in the way he popularized and explicated the American legal system over the first half of the 20th century. Thanks to Train, Americans became more familiar with the law and were less inclined to assume that it always worked in their best interests” (ANB). Small sepia photographic portrait of London (measures 1-1/2 by 2 inches) tipped to front pastedown. Laid-in bookseller slips.

Text and plates fresh with tiny closed tear to lower margin of frontispiece not affecting image; lightest edge-wear to cloth. A very scarce inscribed copy in near-fine condition.