The Library of Stephen J. Farber

8vo. Original blue and orange cloth (front free endpaper starting); dust jacket. Provenance: Gloria Swanson (1899-1983), American actress (ownership bookplate).

GLORIA SWANSON'S COPY.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with spine mistakenly printed as "Elmer Cantry." Nicknamed "the preacher novel" by its author, the title character is an alcoholic, womanizing preacher who steadily becomes a major political and moral force in the Methodist Church. While working on the novel, Lewis began attending 2-3 church services every Sunday, carefully observing the speaking styles of the preachers. Advance copies of the book were sent to clergymen all over the country, with predictable results: Elmer Gantry was condemned by nearly every religious institution in the United States. In anticipation of a surefire bestseller, Harcourt ordered 140,000 copies of the first edition printed - the largest first printing of any book in the history of book printing. Less than 20,000 copies were produced and shipped before a bookseller noticed that the title read "Elmer Cantry." The rest were recalled and a second run was hastily printed. As a result of the controversy Elmer Gantry was banned in Boston and numerous other cities and its author was the recipient of death threats, including one particularly infamous instance when Lewis received an invitation to his own lynching. Pastore, 13.

[With]: LEWIS. Elmer Gantry. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Company, 1927. 8vo. Original orange and blue cloth (light rubbing). Second printing with corrected spelling on spine.