That Printer of Udell's by Harold Bell Wright (NEW EDITION), 1911 📜✍️✝️

This volume of That Printer of Udell's by Harold Bell Wright is a top-shelf documentary artifact of early 20th-century American religious and social fiction.

The book is an authenticated New Edition from the major reprint house A. L. Burt Company and is illustrated by John Clitheroe Gilbert.

Its value is secured by the strong Aesthetic Premium of its pictorial cloth binding and a non-replicable Provenance Premium tied to its ownership in 1914.

2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨ That Printer of Udell's is an example of Christian socialist fiction, detailing the moral awakening and struggles of a young man named Dick Falkner who is taken in by a small-town printer. The plot focuses on social reform, poverty, and religious faith, characteristic themes of the Progressive Era.

The book is a late edition, featuring a pictorial cloth binding with a pasted-down illustration of a man on the cover . The contents, including chapters like "The Testing of a Soul" and "A Revolutionary Movement," confirm the book’s focus on intense personal and social change. The original title page features an illustration of a printer's shop .

3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️ Harold Bell Wright (1872–1944) was one of America's first and most successful mass-market authors, pioneering the use of populist, moralistic fiction to explore social issues. Wright's novels were instrumental in making him a household name.

The publisher, A. L. Burt Company, specialized in publishing the authorized reprints of bestsellers like Wright's, ensuring the books remained accessible and in print for years after their initial release. The book’s success allowed a mass audience to engage with complex social reform narratives.

4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜 This edition was published in March 1911, placing the volume in the Edwardian/Progressive Era. The novel itself reflects the early 20th-century American obsession with social reform, temperance, and the Social Gospel movement.

The book’s ownership inscription, dated July 1914, places its reading just as World War I began in Europe. The book functions as a tangible record of the moral and social concerns of the American public immediately before the global conflict shifted national focus.

5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️ This volume is an essential acquisition for a curator of American Popular Literature and Social Gospel Fiction.

It is ideally suited for a collector who specializes in documented reprint editions that illustrate the continuing commercial life of bestsellers. The book belongs in a collection that prioritizes traceable personal history from the early 1900s.

6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️ This book is a First Edition of the A. L. Burt Reprint. The volume is approximately 114 years old.

Its rarity is moderate as a trade reprint, but the value is significantly elevated by its strong Provenance Premium. The handwritten inscription, dated July 1914, documents the book's reading just three years after its new edition release, providing a clear non-replicable chain of ownership.

7. Condition 🔎📚✨ The physical condition has been assessed directly from the provided high-resolution photography. The book is deemed to be in Very Good Antique Condition.

• Binding: Bound in original publisher's green cloth with a pasted-down illustration on the cover .

• Printing: Confirmed as the New Edition, Published March 1911.

• Inscription: Contains a clear handwritten ownership inscription dated July 1914.

• Wear: The cloth binding shows light rubbing and darkening along the spine and edges consistent with its age.

• Internal Marks: Contains a small embossed imprint of a wreath with the letter "J".

• Text Block: The text block is secure and clean, with light toning appropriate for its age.

8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

• The Social Gospel: The novel is a key example of the Social Gospel movement in fiction, which advocated for applying Christian ethics to social problems like poverty and crime.

• The Inscription Date: The inscription date of July 1914 is notable, as it marks the moment the book was read just as the political crisis leading to World War I was engulfing Europe.

• The Burt Reprint Model: A. L. Burt pioneered the model of buying the reprint rights to bestsellers to sell them cheaply, making books like this accessible to the mass market.

• The Illustrative Detail: The frontispiece illustration features a detailed image of the printing shop, referencing the book's central narrative and the industrial setting of the time .

9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

• Object Type: Vintage Novel (Reprint Provenance Copy)

• Author: Harold Bell Wright

• Title: That Printer of Udell's

• Year/Period: 1911 (New Edition)

• Publisher: A. L. Burt Company

• Place of Origin: New York

• Format/Binding: Publisher’s Green Cloth with Pictorial Pastedown

• Edition/Rarity: New Edition, First Burt Printing (Provenance Artifact)

• Transcription of Inscription (Verbatim): Mrs. A. S. Jones July 1914