Two-Way Passage (Signed)

Louis Adamic

Published by Harper & Brothers, New York, 1941

About this Item

Stated First Edition. Signed and inscribed on the half-title page ( 'For Charles A. House, Louis Adamic'). The fact that this book was written in 1941 does not appear to have had too much impact on its condition. As you can see the photos, the covers are in very nice condition. The corners have no wear. Each spine end does have a tiny tear. And there is a small area off the bottom edge of the front cover with a little bit of discoloration which extends to the same area just under it on the bottom edge. The edges are otherwise free of any wear. The book is square and straight, and very solidly bound from cover to cover. The interior of the book is in very nice condition. The pages are exceptionally clean. In scrolling through, I didn't see any soiling at all. There is some of the expected age toning at the margins. I didn't see any conspicuous creasing. There are no markings. No attachments. And with the exception of the author's signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in this book. Here's a little bit from Louis Adamic's Wikipedia profile: 'All of Adamic's writings are based on his labor experiences in America and his former life in Slovenia. He achieved national acclaim in America in 1934 with his book The Native's Return, which was a bestseller directed against King Alexander's regime in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This book gave many Americans their first real knowledge of the Balkans. It contained many insights, but proved far from infallible: Adamic predicted that America would prosper by eventually "going left", i.e. turning socialist. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship award in 1932. During the Second World War he had supported the Yugoslav National liberation struggle and the establishment of a socialist Yugoslav federation. He founded the United Committee of South-Slavic Americans in support of Marshal Tito. From 1949 he was a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Plagued by failing health, he is believed to have shot himself at his residence in Milford, New Jersey. He died at a time of political tension and intrigue in Yugoslavia, and there was press speculation in America that his death might have been an assassination by some Balkan faction, but no definitive proof of this theory has ever surfaced. According to John McAleer's Edgar Award-winning Rex Stout: A Biography (1977), it was the influence of Adamic that led Rex Stout to make his fictional detective Nero Wolfe a native of Montenegro, in what was then Yugoslavia. Stout and Adamic were friends and frequent political allies, and Stout expressed uncertainty to McAleer about the circumstances of Adamic's death. In any case, the demise seems to have inspired Stout's 1954 novel The Black Mountain, in which Nero Wolfe returns to his homeland to hunt down the killers of an old friend.'. Seller Inventory # 002111

Bibliographic Details

Title: Two-Way Passage (Signed)

Publisher: Harper & Brothers, New York

Publication Date: 1941

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition