Stories of the Railway (1st Edition - SIGNED) By A.C. Gordon, Thomas Nelson Page

by Thomas Nelson Page, Gordon

$450 · Offered by eBay

First edition · Signed

A rare and intimate piece of American literary and heraldic provenance. This first edition, first printing of Stories of the Railway, part of the prestigious "Stories from Scribner" series published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1893, is an exceptional association copy containing two extraordinary ownership marks that together tell a complete and compelling story. On the front paste-down endpaper is affixed the Gordon family heraldic bookplate — featuring the full Gordon clan coat of arms with three boars' heads on the shield, a crowned stag's head crest, and the ancient Scottish clan motto "BYDAND" (steadfast/abiding) — confirming this volume came directly from the personal library of the Gordon family household. On the facing page, in a clear and confident hand, is the inscription: "Maria B. Gordon from A.C.G. June 1893" — a personal presentation from contributor Armistead Churchill Gordon (1855–1931) to his wife, Maria Breckinridge Catlett Gordon, in the very month of publication. Gordon was a figure of considerable civic and literary stature in Virginia — a lawyer, poet, Mayor of Staunton, Virginia, Rector of the University of Virginia, and first Chairman of the Virginia State Library Board. His story in this volume, "Flandroe's Mogul," appears alongside three other railway tales: "As the Sparks Fly Upward" by George A. Hibbard, "How I Sent My Aunt to Baltimore" by C.S. Davison, and "Run to Seed" by the celebrated Southern author and diplomat Thomas Nelson Page —

• Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
• Year: 1910
• Printing: first
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good

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