THE ARROW OF GOLD. A Story Between Two Notes

1919. [advance copy in wrappers] London: T. Fisher Unwin, (1919). Original color pictorial wrappers.

First English Edition, advance (colonial?) copy in pictorial wrappers. For the first English edition, Cagle cites the usual green cloth binding (for domestic copies), plus copies in a similar green cloth binding with "Unwin's Library" on the spine (for colonial copies). Cagle does not mention seeing any colonial copies in wrappers, but he does mention an advance copy at the Lilly Library that is bound in wrappers created from the very uncommon "a" dust jacket for this book. This copy is identical to that copy -- confirmed as a "salesman's advance copy" of the first English edition, in fact, by a Lilly librarian (correspondence included). At the foot of the title page is the ink-stamp of a Buenos Aires bookseller -- so it is likely that this "advance copy" was sent right out to Argentina; Supino mentions another copy from Australia -- "this might indicate that such copies had a colonial distribution." This issue has no imprint at the foot of the spine; this copy does have the slightly-defective "A" in the p. 67 headline. Condition is very good -- actually quite remarkable for such a fragile binding: the wrapper spine is a bit split and chipped (but virtually all there), and there is other minor edge-wear. Supino A21.7.0 (see note on pp 289-290) -- this copy; see Cagle A38.b.1. Provenance: discreet bookplate of the Conrad bibliographer David J. Supino.