TARKINGTON, BOOTH (NEWTON BOOTH) — Monsieur Beaucaire

New York, NY: McClure, Phillips & Company, 1900. 1st Edition; Later state. Hardcover. Illustrated by C. D. Williams. B&W Illustrations; This is a First Edition, later state, with the This book is in Very Good condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in generally clean, bright condition. There is some light bumping and fraying to the spine ends and corners of the book coves. The red cloth binding has sevearl spots of fading / discoloration to the front cover and noticeable fading to the spine of the book. The text pages are clean and bright. All six of the illustrations by C. D. Williams are included, with tissue guards, and are in clean, bright condition. The decorations for the book's interior are by Charles Edward Hooper. The publisher's seal, found on the verso of the rear free page (right after the last page of text) is larger than 1/2" (looks to be 3/4th " in length). Top edge of the text block is gilt , and the foredge and bottom edges of the text block are untrimmed. "Tarkington was an unabashed Midwestern regionalist and set much of his fiction in his native Indiana. In 1902, he served one term in the Indiana House of Representatives as a Republican. Tarkington saw such public service as a responsibility of gentlemen in his socio-economic class, and consistent with his family's extensive record of public service. This experience provided the foundation for his book In the Arena: Stories of Political Life. While his service as an Indiana legislator was his only official public service position, he remained politically conservative his entire life. He supported Prohibition, opposed FDR, and worked against FDR's New Deal. Tarkington was one of the more popular American novelists of his time. His The Two Vanrevels and Mary's Neck appeared on the annual best-seller lists a total of nine times. The Penrod novels depict a typical upper-middle class American boy of 1910 vintage, revealing a fine, bookish sense of American humor." (from Wikipedia). Very Good .