Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890.
First American edition, unstated early printing with plain (rather than floral patterned) endpapers as per The Jerome K. Jerome Society's online bibliography. Signed by Jerome K. Jerome on the front free endpaper and inscribed to Mr. and Mrs. F. Wright Neuman "in pleasant remembrance of days in Chicago. Nov 24, 1905.” [iv], 298 pp., illustrated in text by A. Frederics. Bound in publisher's dull turquoise cloth with pictorial stamping in teal and gilt lettering, plain endpapers. Light shelf wear and a few trivial indents to front boards, else Fine. An attractive copy.
The renowned British humor writer Jerome K. Jerome arrived in Chicago on November 22, 1905, accompanied by his wife Georgina and the American humorist Charles Battell Loomis. Jerome was on the first of three American lecture tours he would make in his lifetime, each one a great success. In Chicago Jerome spoke at a private residence on the 23rd, then delivered a public recital at a music hall on the 24th. It is likely there that he met F. Wright Neuman, an experienced artist manager who, according to a contemporary newspaper report, managed “only the best talent.”
It is unsurprising that Neuman presented this particular book for a signature. Three Men in a Boat is Jerome’s best and most enduring work, a comic account of an ill-fated boating trip with two friends (and a dog) that sold millions of copies worldwide in his lifetime and has never been out of print. Jerome, whose efficiency and exactitude belied his self-proclaimed status as an “idler,” disliked the inconvenience of autograph requests and often refused them. Mr. and Mrs. Neuman, as professional acquaintances, clearly merited special treatment.
Price: $5,500