IN MOROCCO
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. First Edition. Item #8181
First Printing, American Issue. Tall octavo (23.5cm); full navy blue cloth, with titling and pictorial elements designed by Margaret Armstrong; titling and decorations stamped in gilt on spine, and in sage green, yellow, and pink on front cover; dustjacket; xviii,[2],3-290pp, with frontispiece, title page vignette, 31 inserted plates of illustrations (halftones), and one map. Mild crimping to spine ends, some trivial wear to lower board edges, else a fresh, very Near Fine copy, with the decorative elements entirely unrubbed. In the original pictorial dustjacket, reproducing the title page vignette on the front panel; edgeworn, lightly dust-soiled, with a hint of sunning to spine, a few tiny stains, small nicks and tears to extremities, a triangular chip to lower edge of rear panel, and a handful of clear tape mends on verso; Very Good+.
In Morocco was the result of Wharton's trip to France's fledgling North African colony during the summer of 1917. Her book was "part travelog, part exploration of the lives of Moroccan women, and part procolonial tract. Packed with gorgeous visual writing, this odd little book showed Wharton at the height of her descriptive powers and at her socially most observant. It helped shape American and British views of Morocco as an exotic travel destination, but it also seems to have nurtured Wharton's mature masterpiece, The Age of Innocence. Like that great novel of manners, in Morocco was inspired by the pageantry of a society and its most stifling customs" (Hindley, Meredith. "During World War I, Edith Wharton visited the desert and harems of Morocco, leading to an unforgettable book." Humanities, Summer 2018, Vol.39, No.3). A beautiful copy, rare in dustjacket, with no jacketed examples found in the auction record. Garrison A29.1.a1.
Price: $5,500.00