The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright (FIRST EDITION), 1911 🇺🇸📜💧

This is a rare First Edition, First Printing of The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright, a best-selling American novel.

The volume is classified as a top-shelf documentary artifact, appealing to collectors of American Western literature and California water history.

Its value is secured by its verifiable First Printing status and a powerful, non-replicable dual Provenance Premium tied directly to Whittier, California, in the early 20th century.

2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨ The novel is a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the massive irrigation and reclamation projects in the Imperial Valley of Southern California. The story's central tension involves the human, financial, and engineering struggles required to transform the desert into fertile farmlands.

The novel is a quintessential example of Harold Bell Wright's populist fiction. It includes full-page illustrations by F. Graham Cootes, including a frontispiece titled "Barbara". The book’s content is notable for detailing the dramatic engineering feats of the era, elevating it beyond simple romance.

3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️ Harold Bell Wright (1872–1944) was an American clergyman whose novels made him the first writer in the world to sell over a million copies of a single title, a milestone for publishing history. His books were wildly successful because they blended clear moral themes with compelling narratives set against dramatic American landscapes.

The book was published by The Book Supply Company, Chicago, the firm responsible for distributing Wright's massive bestsellers to a broad, national audience. The novel's acknowledgment page explicitly credits William Mulholland, the Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, confirming Wright's commitment to factual research into California’s water politics.

4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜 This First Printing was published in 1911, placing it in the Progressive Era, a time of intense focus on massive American infrastructure and conservation. The novel directly addresses the major political and environmental debates surrounding the control of water in the arid American West.

The book's inscription, dated February 3rd, 1912, documents its sale just six months after publication. The book functioned as an agent of social and political discourse, raising public awareness about the engineering feats and ethical challenges of American resource management. The book is a tangible record of the period’s political consciousness regarding Western expansion.

5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️ This volume is an essential acquisition for a curator of California Water History, Western Americana, and Literary Provenance.

It is ideally suited for a collector who specializes in documented First Editions with verifiable, early California institutional or personal ownership. The dated 1912 inscription and the Whittier, California, address provide a clear non-replicable chain of ownership, substantially elevating its investment grade.

6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️ This book is a First Edition, First Printing, a key bibliographical milestone. The volume is approximately 114 years old.

Its scarcity is moderate as a high-volume title, but the value is significantly elevated by its strong Provenance Premium. The dated inscription of Florence L. Jones and the Whittier, California, address of C. L. Birch provide a non-replicable chain of ownership from the book’s first year of circulation. This documented history commands a premium over a standard copy.

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 maroon cloth with gilt title stamping on the cover and spine.

• Printing: Confirmed as the First Printing.

• Inscription: Features two distinct handwritten ownership inscriptions on the front free endpaper, one dated Feb 3rd 1912 and one with a California address.

• Wear: The cloth shows rubbing and light fraying at the spine ends and corners, consistent with its age.

• Text Block: The text block is secure and clean, with typical age toning.

• Internal Image: Contains intact black and white illustrations by F. Graham Cootes, including the frontispiece.

8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

• The Engineer Acknowledgment: Wright's explicit acknowledgment of William Mulholland and other engineers in the California Development Company confirms the novel’s grounding in real-world, major infrastructure politics.

• The Publishing Model: The Book Supply Company pioneered a highly effective mail-order and direct-to-consumer sales model that contributed significantly to Wright's status as a publishing phenomenon.

• The Dated Sale: The inscription "Feb 3rd 1912" documents the specific date of the book's first personal sale, creating an immediate historical link to its year of publication.

• The California Connection: The novel’s setting in the Imperial Valley and the owner's address in Whittier, California, provides a powerful piece of regional Americana tying the book to the subject of its own narrative.

9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

• Object Type: First Edition Novel (Literary Provenance Copy)

• Author: Harold Bell Wright

• Title: The Winning of Barbara Worth

• Year/Period: 1911 (Copyright and Publication)

• Publisher: The Book Supply Company

• Place of Origin: Chicago

• Format/Binding: Publisher’s Maroon Cloth with Gilt Stamping

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

• Transcription of Inscription (Front Free Endpaper, Verbatim): Florence L. Jones Feb 3rd 1912 C. L. BIRCH 537 SOUTH FRIENDS AVE. WHITTIER, CALIF.