| Author: Grove,
Frederick Philip, 1879-1948.
Title: A
search for America : the odyssey of an immigrant / Frederick Philip Grove ; [jacket
and end leaves designed by J. M. Meekison]. --
Edition: [Louis Carrier ed.]. --
Published: New York ; London ; Montreal : Louis Carrier & Co., "At the Mercury," c1928c.
Description: [ix], 392 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: Title page appears in a double frame with stylized flower-buds, and the
publisher's emblem, an icon of a man's half profile with a winged helmet, perhaps
representing Mercury, the messenger of the Gods [it also appears on the spine
above "Carrier"]. -- Across title page: "By the same author" lists Over Prairie
Trails, The Turn of the Year, and Settlers of the Marsh. --
Contents: Table of Contents, p. [xi]: Book One: The Descent. Book Two: The Relapse.
Book Three: The Depths. Book Four: The Level. -- Each Book is introduced with
a motto: p. [1], a quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson; p. 105 & 317, Henry
David Thoreau; p. 223, Thomas Carlyle. -- The lining papers by Meekison represent
a rough map of eastern and western North America.
Annotation: Verso of t.p., p. [vi]: "Copyright 1928, by Louis Carrier & Co.
/ Copyright, Canada, 1927, by Frederick Philip Grove. / The jacket and end leaves
designed by J. M. Meekison. / Printed in the United States of America at the
Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass." -- Bound in yellow, coated linen; the dust cover
depicts a ship and globe trotter, with a distant silhouette of New York in a
setting sun. Brief summary of the novel on front flap, 5 review excerpts on the
back [twice, Saturday Review; J. F. White, Canadian Forum; Fred Jacob, The Mail & Empire;
W. A. Deacon, Saturday Night].
Printed dedication on p.[ix]: "I reverently dedicate this book to the memory
of George Meredith and Algernon Swinburne and Thomas Hardy."
This Dedication to Meredith, Swinburne, and Thomas Hardy is significantly shorter
than those appearing in the 1st ed. of October 1927, the "First" ed. handled
for the Carillon Book Club in ca. February 1928, and the 1st reprint of June
1928, all three by Graphic Publishers [H. C. Miller], Ottawa: before "Hardy" these
eds.add: "...and to one of that illustrious triad who is still living, namely,
Thomas Hardy,"and after this name, "...for 'Canadian literature is a mere bud
on the tree of great Anglo-Saxon tradition'."
Autobiographical fiction affording numerous glimpses into Grove's life as Felix
Paul Greve (1879-1909), and the three poorly documented years he spent in America
before coming to Manitoba in late 1912. -- This is the only ed. with the subtitle "The
Odyssey of an Immigrant. -- "Author's Note" [p. vii] identical to the original
1927 Graphic and the other two 1928 eds.by H. Miller/Graphic: it is dated Dec.
1926, Rapid City, and signed F.P.G.Grove claims that this book has been rewritten
8 times over the last 32 years, and excuses "anachronisms" as "an unavoidable
consequence of such a method of composition." He thanks A.L.P. [Phelps] and W.K.
[Kirkconnell] of Wesley College, Winnipeg, for their encouragement.
Local Note: This "4th ed." by Ryerson is clearly based on the very printing plates
used for the Louis Carrier "American edition" of October 1928. Even the "end
leaves", or more correctly, the lining papers, repeat Meekison's map of North
America, without any acknowledgement whatsoever.
Pencilled and stamped on inside cover: "ACCESSION NUMBER 175359", and "E. Dafoe
Memorial Fund, 4.08."
Subjects: Grove,
Frederick Philip, 1879-1948 Childhood and youth.
Grove,
Frederick Philip, 1879-1948. Search for America 1928 c [=Oct. 1928]
Grove,
Frederick Philip, 1879-1948 Fiction.
Autobiographical
fiction.
Other Author(s): Louis
Carrier & Co. (Publishing Firm).
Holdings: Elizabeth Dafoe Library PS 8513 R87 S42 1928c
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