B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 BEAUTIFUL FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, "SO CONVINCING THAT A UNION GENERAL SAID HE RECALLED SERVING WITH CRANE AT ANTIETAM" 12. CRANE, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage, An Episode of the American Civil War. New York: D. Appleton, 1895. Octavo, original pale yellow buckram decorated in red, black and gilt, brown coated endpapers, top edge yellow, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom chemise and half morocco clamshell box. $38,000 First edition, first issue of Crane's classic Civil War novel, in exceptionally rare original dust jacket. "Stephen Crane, with no more military experience than his lively imagination could cull from Battles and Leaders of the Civil War and from Tolstoy, told so graphically how a raw recruit feels in battle that The Red Badge of Courage must be regarded as the first artistic approach to the war. It pictures no historical figure or event, except that Chancellorsville is its setting, but its sense of the helplessness and meaninglessness of the common soldier, maneuvered by superiors and circumstance, is a brilliant achievement in impression" (Leisy, 158-59). "The book was so convincing that a Union colonel said he recalled serving with Crane at Antietam" (ANB). First issue, with perfect type in the last line on page 225, with "Gilbert Parker's Best Books" listed at the top of the publisher's advertisement on page [235], and with top edge yellow. First published in serial form by the Philadelphia Press in 1894. BAL 4071. Starrett 3. Grolier American 100 98. Bookplate of noted collector, lawyer, and businessman Carroll A. Wilson (1887-1947). Text and cloth clean and fresh, with only mild toning to spine, near-fine. Original dust jacket with expert reinforcement to verso of folds and restoration to somewhat rubbed and creased extremities; red lettering slightly out of register (printer's error). A very good copy of this American landmark, desirable in the rare original dust jacket. 12
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