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Main Street: The Story Of Carol Kennicott
by Lewis, Sinclair
- Used
- fair
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fair/No Jacket
- Seller
-
Woodlawn, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York, New York, U. S. A.: Harcourt, Brace And Howe, 1920. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Fair/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. First Edition, Second Impression. The Book Is Bound In Dark Blue Cloth Over Boards With Blue Lettering With A Stamped Ornate Field On The Front And Spine. Author's Name Is Stamped In Orange On The Front. The Cover Is Worn With Two Small Faint White Spots On The Spine. The Top Edges Are Dust Soiled. No Ownership Information Present. The Front Hinge Is Cracked.
Synopsis
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is a satirical novel concerning small town America. The story follows Carol Milford, a liberal and free-spirited woman, as she marries Dr. William Kennicott and settles in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Upon arrival, Carol is shocked by the conservatism and general backwardness of Gopher Prairie—which is loosely based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The residents of Gopher Prairie seem more interested in gossip than larger cultural or social issues, which frustrates Carol. In various attempts to reform the town, she implements one improvement project after another, all of them ending in failure. In the end, Carol realizes that her frustrations with the individuals of the town should really have been directed towards its institutions and that although she was been beaten, she has kept the faith. Lewis initially seems to be attacking his small town roots in the novel, but his satire is double-edged; Main Street is not only a critique of simple townspeople, but also of the superficial intellectuals who look down on them. Main Street was not expected to be a commercial success. Lewis anticipated selling 10,000 copies; Harcourt, Brace and Howe anticipated 20,000. In the first six months of 1921, Main Street sold over 180,000 copies. Main Street is ranked 68th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was initially awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature that year, but the Board of Trustees overturned the decision and gave the prize to Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence instead. (In 1925, Lewis rejected the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith because he felt that he had deserved the prize for Main Street.)
Read More: Identifying first editions of Main Street: The Story Of Carol Kennicott
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Details
- Bookseller
- Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 039802
- Title
- Main Street: The Story Of Carol Kennicott
- Author
- Lewis, Sinclair
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fair
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Harcourt, Brace And Howe
- Place of Publication
- New York, New York, U. S. A.
- Date Published
- 1920
- Pages
- 451
- Size
- 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- City And Town Life - Fiction; Married Women - Fiction; Physicians' Spouses - Fiction; Women College Graduates - Fiction; Minnesota - Fiction. Literary
Terms of Sale
Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
Biblio member since 2013
Woodlawn, Illinois
About Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
I have a small inventory of about 23,000 titles. I sell from my own property and only on-line. I started selling on line in 1999. This is my Fourth year with Biblio.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Soiled
- Generally refers to minor discoloration or staining.
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- 12mo
- A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
- Cracked
- In reference to a hinge or a book's binding, means that the glue which holds the opposing leaves has allowed them to separate,...
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