First Edition My Antonia 1918 Willa Sibert Cather 2nd State Cloth Hardcover Good

Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918. First edition, second state cloth bound hardcover of My Antonia by Willa Sibert Cather. The first printing of this book has two states. In the first state, W.T. Benda's illustrations were printed on glossy, coated paper, believed to be about 2,500 copies. Willa Cather objected to this choice, so the remaining second state printings, of which this is one of an estimated 1,000 copies, featured the illustrations printed on the same regular, non-glossy paper as the text. This book's previous owner, Edith Barbara Tranter, was secretary to W. T. H. Howe (1874-1939), president of the American Book Company in Cincinnati, and subsequently administrator of his estate. Edith was an avid book collector. Her library was sold at auction by Parke-Bernet on March 18, 1952. My Antonia is the reflective story of Jim Burden, a man who looks back on his Nebraska childhood and his enduring, nostalgic affection for the spirited Bohemian immigrant girl, Ántonia Shimerda. Th