"NO TRAGEDY WITHOUT CONFLICT BETWEEN THINGS THAT MATTER": FIRST EDITION OF WHARTON'S HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED
WHARTON, Edith. Hudson River Bracketed. New York and London: D. Appleton, 1929. Octavo, original dark blue blue cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase.
First edition of one of Wharton's final novels, the first in a two-novel series concluded by "The Gods Arrive" in 1932.
At her death in 1937, the New York Times wrote, "There can be no reading of human character without ethics, no tragedy without conflict between things that matter. This Edith Wharton knew and never forgot." While living abroad after World War I, this Pulitzer Prize-winning author "was increasingly dismayed by the rampant materialism and vulgarity of the 1920s… and a society gone awry" (ANB). The novel's sequel, The Gods Arrive (1932), provided a European counterpart to this novel's focus on New York society, seen through the eyes of a Midwestern writer. Binding state A, no priority established. Garrison A43.I.a. Booklabel; ink gift inscription from the year of publication.
Expert repair to rear inner paper hinge, text and cloth fine; scarce original dust jacket with skillful restoration to extremities, bright and clean. An exceptionally good copy.