The Show at Washington.
Washington, DC: Washington Publishing Company, 1894. Paperback. 24mo. Stiff glossy pictorial wrappers with modern brown cloth tape spine. 241pp. Good only. Outer corners of original front wrapper chipped and remainder a tad soiled and scuffed; added brown cloth tape spine neat and strong; text block tight and clean for the most part, with minor chipping to preliminary leaves; ownership signature (John E. Flynn) on title page and pencilled on bottom page edges; a few page references inked on inside rear wrapper and lightly pencilled on rear inner flyleaf. Item #47455
Typically worn and well-thumbed first softbound edition of this gossipy name-dropping "insider" chronicle about D.C. politicians and celebrities by these two Washington correspondents (Coolidge for the "New York Recorder," Reynolds for the "Boston Advertiser"). But what interests and intrigues about this copy is its provenance: It hails from the collection of Adlai E. Stevenson III (1930-2021), U.S. Senator from Illinois (1969-81), who likely inherited it from his father Adlai II (1900-65), Illinois governor and two-time presidential candidate, who may have inherited it from his grandfather Adlai I (1835-1914), postmaster general and U.S. vice president under Cleveland -- who was in office at the time of its publication. That’s a lot of “maybe”s, but it’s a realistic possibility. He is gossiped about on pages 67-68 and makes other brief appearances.
Price: $75.00