R.F.D.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co., [1938]. Hardcover. 8vo. Terra Cotta cloth with gilt lettering and decoration, pictorial dust jacket. 314pp. Very good/very good. Faintest of edgewear; bit of jacket edgewear, with several miniscule edge chips at head and tail of spine. Item #42372
A tight, attractive first edition of this New York writer's tale of relocating to the family farm in Chillicothe, Ohio -- where by the way he spent the rest of his life. Fine autograph addition: Tipped to the front flyleaf is an Autograph Note Signed from Smart, 1p, heavy stock 5½" X 3¼ postal card, cancelled in Chillicothe, OH, 29 April [1938]. Addressed to Arnold F. Gates (1914-96, noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar). Near fine. Cordial note boldly penned in blue fountain pen thanking an admirer "for your nice letter" -- and Gates being from Cleveland, it was no doubt the Ohio focus that prompted the future Lincolnist to write the bestselling author -- though Gates did the opposite of Smart and went from his native Ohio to New York City! Smart (1902-67) authored almost a dozen books, but this classic tale of a transplanted New Yorker was a bestseller and is his best-known work.
Price: $75.00