Description
For sale: a Rare and Exceptional first edition first printing hardcover copy of The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne with no dust jacket. First Edition unstated, 1889 Scribner. First Printing with 1889 on both the title and copyright pages and no subsequent printing.
The hardcover book exterior is in Very Good condition with the fake paper removed from the bottom of the front cover. The oddly shaped deboss which held the fake printed page remnant, is rubbed extensively. Above this on the front board is the rectangular paper label with the title and authors’ names, which is lightly toned with a small chip. The book has clean, bright boards, with the cloth pattern visible and a bit of the sheen present. Also with, lightly toned page blocks, mild spine tilt, rubbed and frayed spine ends, heavy edge wear and rubbed corners. The title gilt is mostly gone but lightly present in the author names on the heavily sunned spine. The interior of the book is also in Very Good condition with some spots, smudges, and the ghost of erased prices on the first free end paper. No other marks, inscriptions, or other signs of ownership inside. The rear end papers and the interior pages are clean and lightly toned, making it an excellent addition to any collection.
No dust jacket.
The Wrong Box is a black comedy (dark comedy) novel co-written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, first published in 1889. The story is about two brothers who are the last two surviving members of a tontine.
The book is notable for being the first of three novels that Stevenson co-wrote with Osbourne, who was his stepson. The others were The Wrecker (1892) and The Ebb-Tide (1894). Osbourne wrote the first draft of the novel late in 1887 (then called The Finsbury Tontine), Stevenson revised it in 1888 (then called A Game of Bluff) and again in 1889 when it was finally called The Wrong Box.
Ships promptly in a manila envelope with book wrapped in both craft paper and multiple layers of bubble wrap.