Jack London, 1915

The Star Rover
Jack London, 1915
LONDON, Jack (1876-1916). The Star Rover. New York: Macmillan, 1915.

First edition, scarce in dust jacket, of London’s science fiction novel said to have inspired H.P. Lovecraft. Star Rover centers on the mystical experience of a San Quentin inmate in the pre-reform days when straitjackets were widely used as a torturous means of discipline. London based his depiction of straitjacket use at the prison on interviews with a former inmate. Sisson and Martens p. 83ff (illustrated on front cover).

Octavo. Color frontispiece after Jay Hambridge (lightly offset to title). Publishers' advertisements at end. Original pictorial cloth lettered in gilt; dust jacket repeating the frontispiece illustration (minor edge-wear and rubbing, a little reinforcement along foot of spine panel and upper flap fold. Provenance: Byron Roy Russell (bookplate). Custom chemise and full morocco slipcase.