Sons (Only Signed Trade First Edition for sale on the Internet)

Stated 'First Trade Edition, September, 1932.' A second printing was also published in September 1932. This is the first printing. The author flat-signed her name under the title on the half-title page. Once listed, this book will be the Only signed first trade edition for sale anywhere on the Internet. There is a more common signed limited edition that was also published in 1932. You can see the covers in the photos. They are quite clean. The gilt lettering on the front cover is fairly bright, on the spine it's a little bit darkened. The top edge of the spine has a little bit of crinkling. The bottom edge has a couple of very tiny tears. The cover edges look very good with a little bit of superficial rubbing at the bottom one. All four corners have spots of rub-through. The cloth above the front bottom corner is creased. The top page edge has a brown topstain. It looks very good. The middle page edge is deckled or rough-cut. They did a very good job. The book is very solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout, and nicely tight covers as well. The inside covers and end papers form a red and white illustration. They are all very clean. There is a thin 1 inch tear off the top edge of the illustrated front end paper, and a 1 1/4 inch thin tear off the bottom edge of the same front end paper. At the juncture between the illustrated rear inside cover and the illustrated rear end paper there is a neat split in the paper with webbing showing. The webbing is not disturbed which is why the covers are very solidly bound, no give. The paper is also present on both sides of the split so that it could be pasted down over the webbing. The second front end paper is white. A previous owner penciled her name and address on this page, a Mrs. Anne Barnouw. By her address and name I was able to find her in the 1940 census. She was born in 1876 in the Netherlands. Her second child was born there in 1916. Sometime between then and 1940 she emigrated with her family to the United States. They were living at 39 Claremont Avenue which I believe is Columbia University housing. Her son, Adriaan Jacob Barnouw , has published a juvenile book titled The Land and People of Holland. Another son who still lives at that address has published something in Cinema Journal. Back to condition: the penciled name and address represents the only writing to be found anywhere in the book. Above it at the right top corner of this blank end paper is a tiny tear through the paper, it looks as though something penciled may have been erased there causing that little tear. After that there is very little wear to be found anywhere in the book. The one exception is minor, a tiny chip off the top edge of one page, a nick left a sliver of paper loose and when I tried to push it down in place it came off. There are no other chips or losses. There are no tears. Creasing is not an issue. Just one top corner and a light impression on one page before and after. There are no other corner creases.There's a tiny tan spot just off the top edge of four consecutive early pages. There's also a tan spot lightly over the print of a couple of words on two other consecutive pages. That's it, turned over Every single page, no other soiling. No foxing. No markings. And no attachments of any kind. 'Sons is a historical fiction novel by American author Pearl S. Buck first published by John Day Company in 1932. It is the second book in The House of Earth trilogy, preceded by The Good Earth and followed by A House Divided. The story tackles the issue of Wang Lung's sons and how they handle their father's estate after his death. It deals mostly with the youngest son, who goes off to war in The Good Earth, and with his son. Buck claimed that after completing The Good Earth 'I found my mind so filled and absorbed with Wang Lung's family that I felt quite compelled to go on with them.' The New York Times reviewer called Sons a 'vivid chronicle of revolutionary China.'.…