About this Item
First Edition (NAP). Quite a rare book, there is only one other for sale on the Internet. While my book is not inexpensive, it is priced $250.00 lower than its competition. The book is in excellent condition. I don't think it was created with a dust jacket, the other one for sale does not have a dust jacket. You can see the covers in the photos. They are exceptionally clean. I don't see any soiling. The gilt lettering on both the front and the spine is nicely bright. The cover edges and corners look very good. The page edges are very clean. The book is square and the spine is straight. The binding is very solid from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout and nicely tight covers as well. The front and rear inside covers and their facing end papers form two different black and white photographs. The front inside cover has two tiny, smooth spots of rubbing. The inside covers and end papers are all perfectly clean. The verso of the front end paper is a full-page description of The Ardsley Club from none other than Henry James in his book The American Scene, published in 1905. The pages, on semi-glossy paper, are exceptionally clean. Scrolling through, I'm not finding any instances of soiling. I'm also not seeing any toning. The pages of very nicely bright. I haven't found any creases. There are no turned-down corners. There are no tears. There is a teeny tiny nick at the top edge of a number early pages, nothing much of anything. There are no markings in the book. No attachments of any kind. And no one has written their name or anything else anywhere. There are a great many illustrations, mostly photographs, also some drawings, a map. They are all in excellent condition. Part One covers 1895-1934 and is titled The Ardsley Club: A Millionaires' Utopia. Part Two picks up at 1935 and goes through 1965. It is titled simply The Ardsley Country Club. Part Three goes from 1965 through to 'Today', which would have been 1997. It is titled The 'New' Ardsley Country Club. The book concludes with an Epilogue titled 100th Anniversary of The Ardsley Country Club: From Hudson to Hilltop. Not by coincidence, I would imagine, the book runs 100 pages. The Prologue: 'The history of this country club, one of the oldest in the nation, is a dynamic tale of creative change and growth. Indeed, there would be no Ardsley Country Club today if there had not been members willing to look beyond the present to the future, however painful that process may have been. In so doing they were honoring the spirit that inspired the creation of this club. Among the original founders were the leaders who formed the New York Public Library and the New York Zoological Society, expanded the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Yacht Club. They operated at the hot center of the nation's political and commercial ferment at the end of the last century. They shaped the transformation of this new country into a world leader, with New York City as the newly grown-up metropolis leading the way. Over the past hundred years, The Ardsley Country Club-- twenty-five miles north of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River in Westchester County-- has had three locations and three distinct characters. Each version has had its own ambiance, its own particular little universe devoted to the all-American pursuit of organized fun. Each was created, sometimes under pressure, in response to both national social trends and local circumstances. Of the many traditions to be celebrated in this first centennial, the most noteworthy is The Ardsley Country Club's willingness to change with the times. The country club as an institution is a uniquely American social phenomenon. The Ardsley Club defined the best, the most splendid of the type one hundred years ago. Today, The Ardsley Country Club hopes it has preserved the genial heart of the original Hudson River club as well as the innovative, gallant spirit that inspired its creation.'. Seller Inventory # 005314
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