Sandburg, Carl

CHICAGO POEMS [Inscribed]

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916. First Edition. Octavo, xi, [1], 183, [3] pages. In Very Good minus condition. Bound in green cloth with a gilt-ruled front board and gilt titling to spine and front board, wrapped in a vintage plastic cover. Plastic cover has rippling to spine and rubbing throughout. Spine has bumping to endcaps, scuffing to extremities, and rubbing throughout; gilding is moderately faded. Boards have light bumping to fore corners, shelfwear to edges, and light scuffing and rubbing throughout; front board has light fading to titling and light-to-moderate fading to gilt rule; rear board has a bump to top edge. Text block has age-toning and light scuffing to edges, dust soiling to top edge, and scattered non-penetrating stains to fore edge; has scuffing to endpapers, detached front free endpaper, and age-toning and splitting to gutters throughout. Inscribed on front flyleaf: “Fred C. Evans / with good wishes / Carl Sandburg." Shelved in Room A Octavo Overflow..

1417926

Special Collections

Price: $600

NOTES

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) drew heavily on his background as a labor reporter and socialist activist for this debut poetry collection which captured the muscular energy, industrial drive, and human grit of early 20th-century Chicago and the broader American Midwest by centering on everyday laborers—steelworkers, railroad hands, factory women, dock workers, and immigrants. The collection established Sandburg as a major national literary voice, proving that modern industrial cities and the working-class people who built them were fit subjects for fine poetry.