Riders Of The Purple Sage by Zane Grey (Grosset & Dunlap 1912 Printing) - Illustrated Cowboy Classic 🤠🌄🐎

1. Introduction 📜🔍🏛️

This volume is an authenticated Grosset & Dunlap printing of Zane Grey's most celebrated work, Riders of the Purple Sage, a foundational text in the Western fiction genre. The book was originally copyrighted and published in January 1912 by Harper & Brothers. This specific printing was published by Grosset & Dunlap by arrangement with Harper & Brothers and features the full original text and illustrations.

The item's primary value for a collector lies in its age as a vintage 1912 edition, which captures the aesthetic of the American reading public's first encounter with this classic. While Grosset & Dunlap primarily served as a reprint house, the inclusion of the original illustrations by Douglas Duer and its early status as a turn-of-the-century cultural artifact makes it a solid acquisition for a curated library of Americana and classic Western literature.

2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨

Riders of the Purple Sage is a novel that single-handedly defined the modern Western genre, setting the standards for its themes, character archetypes, and settings. The story is set in the secluded, desolate valleys of Utah near the Arizona border in 1871. The plot follows Jane Withersteen, a wealthy Mormon ranch owner, and her defiance against the tyrannical leaders of her own church, which leads to violence and conflict with the "Gentile" population.

The volume contains the iconic narrative elements that made it a sensation: the mysterious masked rider, the kidnapping of a young girl, and the dramatic conflict between religious law and individual freedom. This edition is illustrated by Douglas Duer, whose four full-page illustrations capture the novel’s dramatic tension. The chapter titles, such as "The Masked Rider," "Silver Spruce and Aspens," and "The Fall of Balancing Rock," establish the high-stakes, epic landscape narrative.

3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️

Zane Grey (1872–1939) was a prolific American author and dentist who abandoned his dental practice to dedicate his life to writing the American frontier experience. Grey is credited with popularizing the Western novel and turning it into a mass-market, global phenomenon. He possessed a deep personal passion for the West, spending much of his life traveling, hunting, and fishing in the environments he wrote about, which lent his narratives an authentic sense of place.

His stories often pitted stoic, honorable cowboys against corrupt and deceitful figures, creating a moral framework that resonated deeply with the American public. Grey’s first major success was “The Heritage of the Desert,” and Riders of the Purple Sage solidified his status as a literary icon, establishing him as the definitive voice of the American frontier. The incredible popularity of his novels paved the way for the creation of the film Western genre, proving his immense cultural influence.

4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜

The book was published in 1912, a year of seismic political and cultural change in the United States. This was the year of the election of Woodrow Wilson, marking the beginning of the Progressive Era's political reforms, yet it was also a time of deep nostalgia for the recently closed American frontier. The official end of the Western Expansion was declared decades earlier, but the myth of the cowboy and the wild frontier was reaching its peak in popular culture.

As the nation rapidly urbanized and industrialized, Zane Grey’s novel provided millions of readers with an escape back to the romanticized, violent, and moral landscape of the West. The novel’s plot, centered on a community's struggles against an overbearing authority, tapped into the era's growing distrust of powerful, monolithic institutions, whether they were industrial trusts or political machines. This book perfectly captures the American psyche at the time—a desire to cling to the virtues of the open land while grappling with the complexities of a modernizing society.

5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️

This volume is tailored for a collector who seeks foundational American genre literature and is a curator of the Western cultural aesthetic. The Ideal Collector is a scholar of early 20th-century popular culture, a devotee of American literary history, or an enthusiast of classic film that was directly inspired by this text.

The book belongs in a collection focused on the evolution of the American archetype—a library that traces the narrative of the cowboy from pulp fiction to global cinema. The aesthetic appeal of the original cover art and the Douglas Duer illustrations make it a visually appealing artifact for a library curated for its historical look and feel.

6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️

This book is a vintage 1912 edition and is 113 years old. The value is derived not from being the Harper & Brothers true first printing, but from its age, original illustration content, and status as a highly sought-after Grosset & Dunlap printing from the same year. True first printings from Harper & Brothers with the correct bibliographical points and original dust jacket can achieve prices well over $750.00.

This copy, a Grosset & Dunlap edition published in the same year, is significantly more common in the market, which reflects the mandatory deduction principle against the aspirational ceiling. The book is objectively a solid, antique reading copy from the year of first publication. The book’s survival through over a century of circulation ensures its value is positioned as a historically authentic acquisition for the discerning collector seeking the original look of this seminal Western novel.

7. Condition 🔎📚✨

This is a 1912 Grosset & Dunlap hardcover lacking the original dust jacket. Its condition is commensurate with its age and use as a popular reading copy for over a century.

• Positive Qualities:

  • The binding remains relatively tight and the pages are secure.

  • The original cover illustration plate and title embossing are present on the front board.

  • The Douglas Duer illustrations are intact and clean.

  • The printed H-M code on the copyright page confirms the printing month of August 1912, an early printing for Grosset & Dunlap.

• Imperfections:

  • The tan cloth boards show heavy soiling, rubbing, and shelf wear typical of antique paper-backed books.

  • The spine is sunned and darkened compared to the front cover.

  • The edges and corners show fraying and chipping, particularly at the spine ends.

  • The pages are tanned and yellowed, typical of the paper quality used in 1912.

8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

• Zane Grey first published Riders of the Purple Sage in a serialized format in The All-Story Magazine in 1912 before it was released as a novel, ensuring its immediate familiarity to the American reading public.

• The novel was highly controversial upon its release due to its direct critique of the Mormon hierarchy and its depiction of polygamy and violence, which was considered inflammatory at the time.

• The printing code "H-M" found on the copyright page signifies the publishing date; the "H" stands for the month of August and the "M" stands for the year 1912, confirming an early edition.

• The story has been adapted for film five separate times, with the first adaptation occurring almost immediately in 1918, solidifying the novel's profound, early influence on Hollywood and the Western genre.

9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

• Title: Riders Of The Purple Sage: A Novel

• Author: Zane Grey

• Illustrator: Douglas Duer

• Year of Publication: 1912 (Copyright and Published Date)

• Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, by arrangement with Harper & Brothers

• Place of Origin: New York, Printed in USA

• Format/Binding: Hardcover, Tan Cloth Boards with Color Illustration Plate

• Edition: Grosset & Dunlap Reprint Printing (Dated August 1912)

• Rarity: Common Edition, Rare in True First Printing

• Verbatim Transcription of Inscription/Marking: A price is stamped on the top corner of the front free endpaper: "5.00".