Frank Norris (1870-1902)

McTeague: A Story of San Francisco 

New York: Doubleday & McClure Co., 1899

8vo., (8 x 5 1/2 inches). Portrait of author tipped in on recto of first blank. Original red cloth, decorated in white (one pale stain on front cover and light rubbing on spine and extremities).

Provenance: bookplate of James Strohn Copley on front pastedown.

First edition, first printing, with page 106 ending with the word “moment.” First mature novel of the author, later adapted into two films (the better known a silent film from 1924, entitled “Greed”) and an opera of the same name (1992). It tells the story of the single-named dentist, McTeague, who finds luck, love, and loss in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.