H.L. MENCKEN. [Selection of works]. New York [etc]: 1905-30. 9 works, in 8 slipcases.

Henry Louis MENCKEN (1880-1956). [Selection of works].  New York [and elsewhere]: 1905-1930. 9 works, in nine volumes, in 8 boxes, various sizes. Various original bindings, all nine works with cloth chemises, all in individual custom box-form two-part slipcases (with two exceptions, see below). Provenance: Alexander F. Haas collection (each slipcase blocked in gilt with owner’s name).

An interesting selection of first editions, all beautifully presented - probably the best available.

‘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).

Comprising:

1.George Bernard Shaw: His Plays. Boston and London: John W. Luce & Co ., 1905. Small octavo. Boxed. First edition. Cloth, a few light spots to covers, otherwise excellent. Frey 2

2.The Artist: A Drama without Words. Boston: John W. Luce & Co ., 1912. 12mo. Boards. Excellent copy, no d/j required. First thus. Frey 4a. [boxed with:]

3.A Book of Burlesques … (Opus 12) . New York: John Lane Co ., 1916. Octavo. Cloth and blocking a little rubbed. No d/j. First thus. Frey 5a.

4.A Little Book in C Major … (Opus II). New York: John Lane Co ., 1916. Small 8vo. Boxed. First edition. Cloth, d/j probably not required. Excellent copy.  Frey 6.

5.A Book of Prefaces (Opus 13). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1917. Octavo. Boxed. First edition. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered, edges cut, the top red-stained, no d/j but otherwise excellent. Frey 7a.

6.Damn! A Book of Calumny. New York: Philip Goodman Co., 1918. Small octavo. Boxed. First edition. Blue cloth, gilt lettering, no d/j but otherwise excellent. Frey 8a.

7.In Defense of Women. New York: Knopf, 1918. Small octavo. Boxed. First edition. Blue cloth, gilt lettering, no d/j otherwise excellent. Frey 9a.

8.The American Language. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1919. Large octavo. Boxed. First edition, 187 of 1500 numbered copies. Blue cloth, no d/j, very lightly soiled, otherwise excellent. Frey 10a.

9.Treatise on the Gods. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, March 1930. Octavo. Boxed. “First and second printings before publication”. Blue cloth, d/j. (One small split to the d/j, otherwise excellent).

2 uniform but empty slipcases available for:  ‘Ventures into Verse’ (1903) and ‘Making of a President’ (1932)