Description
FIRST EDITION, SIGNED LETTER TIPPED IN, 8vo, pp. xiv, 295, [9]. Original buff cloth, spine and front board lettered in red. Spine slightly cocked and toned, a few spots. Typed letter signed by Davies tipped to front flyleaf.
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp. With a Preface by Bernard Shaw.
- London: A.C. Fifield 1908
£300
Notes
The first edition of Davies's account of tramping across the UK and North America at the end of the 19th century, an immediate literary sensation and scarce to find in really nice condition. Davies objected to giving autographs so it is particularly hard to find with his signature; in this copy a TLs has been tipped to the front endpaper. The letter, dated 6th January 1926, itself has a point of interest: written to a Mr Conley, it thanks him 'for giving me the great pleasure of reading "Sam Noble, A.B." It reads so well that nothing would give me more pleasure than to hear that you had enough material for another book of the same kind...'. It is clear Davies is writing to the author of the book, but 'Sam Noble, A.B.: 'Tween Decks in the 'Seventies' was published in 1925 under the name Sam Noble and we have not found any other record suggesting it to be a pseudonym.
Davies goes on to write that an author only has one good book in him - Davies himself was prolific, particularly in his poetry, but nothing else approached the success of this title.
