The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, First Edition, 1938

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling. Illustrated by Edward Shenton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938. First edition. 8to. Rebound in full green leather with gilt tooling, titles, and stamps to the spine. New green marbled endpapers. Presented with an archival matching slipcase. 

Presented is a first edition of The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The book was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, in New York, 1938. Being a Scribner’s publication, this first edition printing has the Scribner’s “A” on the copyright page. It is illustrated throughout with black and white illustrations by Edward Shenton. It is presented rebound, in a beautiful full green leather, with raised bands, gilt stamps, and gilt titles to the spine. It has matching green marbled endpapers and all edges are gilded. The book comes with a matching, archival slipcase

Rawlings' editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons was Maxwell Perkins, who also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and other literary luminaries. Rawlings had previously submitted several projects to Perkins for his review, yet he rejected them all. Instead, Perkins instructed her to write about what she knew from her own life, and the result of her taking his advice was The Yearling. 

The Yearling is set in rural central Florida, where Rawlings grew up. It follows the story of Jody Baxter and his pet fawn Flag growing up in the harsh backwoods. The book focuses on Jody, his relationships with his parents, and his fawn, while offering the readers an intimate glimpse into the hardships of subsistence farming and the poverty of that period. 

The book was first published in March of 1938 and was the main selection of the Book of the Month Club in April 1938. It was the best-selling novel in the United States in 1938, when it sold more than 250,000 copies. The Yearling won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. Translated into over twenty languages, The Yearling was also adapted into a 1946 film starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, who both received Academy Award nominations for their performances. “The thing about The Yearling- its great claim to distinction- is that it is able to make so much of simple, homely events” (Edith Walton, New York Times Book Review).

CONDITION:

Very good condition overall. Octavo. Rebound in full green leather, with raised bands, gilt stamps, titles, and gilt tooling to the spine. New green marbled endpapers. All edges gilded. Interior text block is very clean. Scribner’s “A” on the copyright page. Illustrated throughout with black and white illustrations by Edward Shenton. Presented with a new matching green slipcase, inlaid with an illustration of the original dust jacket design.

Book Dimensions: 8 1/2" H x 6" W x 1 3/4" D. Slipcase Dimensions: 9" H x 6 1/4" W x 2" D.