H.L. MENCKEN (1880-1956). [Works, by or on Mencken] N.Y. [etc.]: 1909-1930. 33 works or part works.

Henry Louis MENCKEN (1880-1956). [Selection of works, some by Mencken, some with contributions from him, some on him].  New York, Boston [and elsewhere]: 1909-1930. 33 works or part works, various sizes. Various bindings, many in excellent condition, see below). Provenance: Alexander F. Haas collection (most with reference numbers at the front, added by Haas). (33)

An interesting selection, mostly first editions (see below), generally in better than average condition.

‘H. L. Mencken was unquestionably the most provocative and influential journalist and cultural critic in twentieth-century America. … Edmund Wilson wrote: “Mencken’s mind . . . has all the courage in the world in a country where courage is rare.” That courage may sometimes have been coupled with an inflexible stubbornness that led him into positions hard to defend. But to succeeding generations of writers and readers, Mencken was the figure who had risked charges of heresy and sedition and almost single-handedly brought America into a new cultural era. To read him is to be plunged into an era whose culture wars were easily as ferocious as those of our own day, in the company of a critic of vast curiosity and vivacious frankness..’ (https://loa.org/books/331-prejudices-first-second-third-series).

Works by Mencken or with contributions from him::

1.In Defense of Women. New York: Knopf, 1918. Small octavo. Third printing. Blue cloth, no d/j otherwise excellent. Frey 9c.

2.In Defense of Women. London: J. Cape, 1923. Octavo. First English edition published in England. Yellow cloth (light discoloration), dust-jacket (with small chips). Frey 9g.

3.A House of Pomegranates… by Oscar Wilde … with an introduction by … Mencken. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co ., 1918. Octavo. First edition thus. Cloth-backed paper-covered boards (light rodent damage along upper edges of boards). Frey B8

4.The Profession of Journalism … edited … by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer. Boston: the Atlantic Monthly Press, 1918. Octavo. First edition. Red cloth (no d/j otherwise excellent). “Newspaper Morals” by Mencken, pp.52-67. Frey B9

5.[The Freeman Pamphlets] On American Books Edited by Francis Hackett. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1920. Small octavo, first edition. Wrappers (some discoloration to wrappers, otherwise excellent). Frey B12

6.[another copy, similar condition]

7.The Line of Love … by James Branch Cabell with an introduction by H.L. Mencken. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1921. Octavo. First edition. Original cloth. (No d/j, otherwise excellent). Frey B15.

8.Civilization in the United States … Edited by Harold E. Stearns. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co ., 1922. Octavo, first edition. Original cloth, d/j. Excellent. “Politics” by Mencken pp. 56-59. Frey B16

9.Backgrounds of Book Reviewing edited by Herbert S. Mallory. Ann Arbor: George Wahr, 1923. Octavo, first edition. Cloth (No d/j, otherwise excellent). “The National Letters,” by Mencken on pp. 123-131. Frey B19

10.A Bibliography of the Writings of H. L. Mencken by Carroll Frey. Philadelphia: The Centaur Bookshop, 1924. Small octavo. First edition, 130 od 300 copies. Boards, d/j (Foil on covers oxidized, panel removed from d/j.).

11.American Criticism 1926 Edited by William A. Drake. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926. Octavo. First edition. Cloth-backed boards, dust-jacket. (Light discoloration to spine of d/j, otherwise excellent). “The Last New Englander” by Mencken on   pp. 161-170.

Works, in part or wholly, about Mencken (see images to judge condition]:

12.Rosemary’s Letter Book … by W.L. Courtney. London: 1909

13.Our America by Waldo Frank. NY: 1919.

14.Letters on contemporary American authors. By Martin MacCullough. Boston: 1921.

15.Side-lights on American literature by Fred Lewis Pattee. N.Y.: 1922.

16.Americans by Stuart P. Sherman. New York: 1924.

17.The Secret of Woman by Helen Jerome. London: 1923.

18.NewYork [sic.] und London … von Alfred Kerr. Berlin: 1923.

19.The Literary Renaissance in America by C.E. Bechhofer. London: March 1923.

20.Confessions of a Book-Lover by Maurice Francis Egan. Garden City, NY: 1923.

21.Contemporary Portraits Fourth Series by Frank Harris. N.Y.: 1923.

22.Some Contemporary Americans… by Percy H. Boynton. Chicago: 1924.

23.The Newer Spirit … V.F. Calverton. N.Y.: 1925.

24.The Man Mencken … By Isaac Goldberg. N.Y.: 1925.

25.The American Parade A quarterly magazine. N.Y.: [July 1926].

26.The American Parade A quarterly magazine. N.Y.: [October 1926].

27.The Outlook for American Prose by Joseph Warren Beach. Chicago: September 1926.

28.The Verdict of Bridlegooseby Llewelyn Powys. N.Y.: May 1926. Octavo.

29.Critical Woodcuts by Stuart Sherman. N.Y. & London: 1926.

30.The Hard-Boiled Virgin by Francis Newman. N.Y.: 1926.

31.Men of Destiny by Walter Lippmann. N.Y.: 1927.

32.Seven Famous Reprints from the new thirteenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. London & N.Y.: 1927.

33.Let Freedom Ring by Arthur Garfield Hays. N.Y.: 1928.

34.Mencken and Shaw. By Benjamin de Casseres. Chicago: 1930.