The Library of Dr. Rodney P. Swantko

Riley, James Whitcomb "The Old Swimmin'-hole," and 'Leven More Poems, by Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone. [James Whitcomb Riley.] Indianapolis, Ind.: George C. Hitt & Co., 1883 Small 8vo (158 x 110 mm). Half-title, title-page printed in red (inserted, as issued), type-ornament head- and tailpiece for each poem. Original cream-colored vegetable parchment wrapper, printed in red, folded over thin boards; inner hinges reinforced, wrapper a bit soiled with some tears and repairs, lacking dust-jacket. Accompanied by copies of the 1886 Bowen-Merrill third edition and by a 1920 facsimile reprint of the first edition produced for the Marshall Field Book Fair. The three volumes housed together in russet morocco folding-case. First edition of the first book by "the people's poet laureate," inscribed for Alexander Hill with a quatrain in dialect on the front blank: "This 'Old Swimmin'-Hole,' I note, | Dates first book I ever wrote.— | Though I've since wrote 9 er 10, | Maybe I'd 'a' best stopped then!" The verse inscription is signed twice by the author, first as "Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone Co., Indiana, and then as "James Whitcomb Riley" and dated Indianapolis, 1 December 1894. Perhaps nothing speaks more clearly of Rodney Swantko's pride in his Hoosier homeland than his inclusion of "The Old Swimmin'-hole" in a collection that boasted the first books by several other, perhaps more significant, American poets: Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost. REFERENCE: BAL 16525; Russo & Russo, pp. 3–6 PROVENANCE: Alexander Hill, manager of the Robert Clark Company of Cincinnati, a publisher and bookseller (presentation inscription; Hill annotated another presentation copy of Riley's first book, inscribed for Jahu Dewitt Miller, 1896, with a reference to the present verse inscription: see Selections from the Collection of the late Jahu Dewitt Miller, AAA-Anderson, 5 December 1934, lot 360)

View 1 of Lot 30: Riley, James Whitcomb | "My doctern is to lay aside Contensions, and be satisfied."

riley, james whitcomb | "my doctern is to lay aside contensions, and be satisfied."

 “The Old Swimmin’-hole,” and ‘Eleven More Poems, by Benj. F.  Johnson, of Boone. Indianapolis: George C. Hitt & Co., 1883

 “The Old Swimmin’-hole,” and ‘Eleven More Poems, by Benj. F.  Johnson, of Boone. Indianapolis: George C. Hitt & Co., 1883 In 12s (6 1/4  x 4 1/4  in.; 160 x 109 mm). Title-page printed in red. Original tan wrappers printed in red, uncut; inch piece chipped from bottom of spine, some other wear, covers a bit soiled. Brown crushed morocco pull-off case.

riley, james whitcomb

The Maurice Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part III)

6 volumes, 4to (8 3/x 6 3/4 in.; 212 x 172 mm). Limitation pages printed in red and black, frontispiece portrait of Riley signed by him, numerous facsimiles and illustrations, including original watercolors by Glenn Henshaw, J. Alfred Seaford, H. Rex Cotton, and Mary McAuley, extra-illustrated with an autograph letter signed by Riley, one page, Greenfield, Indiana, 21 August 1893, to "Dear Carey," regarding promotion for the publication of Poems Here at Home. Crushed red morocco, lightly mottled in a "Spanish" style, covers gilt with a fillet and foliate frame with red and blue morocco onlays, front covers with the central gilt initials of the recipient of this set (EHN; see below), spines gilt in six compartments with blue morocco onlays, gilt dentelles, green moiré silk linings, top edges gilt, others uncut and largely unopened; bookplate neatly removed from each volume, spines very slightly, and uniformly, faded. 

the complete works. new castle, pennsylvania: c. b. randall, (1913)

Autograph manuscript poem in black ink entitled "A Feel in the Christmas Air!" 4 pages (5 3/8 x 3 3/4 in.; 137 x 95 mm), n.p., 1897, with one full page illustration and 5 text illustrations and 3 vignettes, written in a decorative pseudo-Gothic hand.  Embossed cream paper wrappers somewhat resembling birch bark, title lettered on the front wrapper with Riley's name in tripartite banderole, sewn with 2 white silk cords. In a satin lined blue velvet folding case.

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