The genesis of an American mythos.
 
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains
Owen Wister
New York, 1902
 
First edition, first printing. Illustrated plates by Arthur I. Keller. Fine, original tan cloth book with the rare jacket in tremendously satisfying shape - chipped at spine panel ends and corners, a few closed tears else a bright, Near Fine example that retains its visual dynamism. The few Virginian jackets that occasionally surface typically look ravaged. Contemporary female owner signature on front endpaper dated June 1902, Boston. An excellent copy housed in a custom case. 
 
In 1885, the Harvard educated Wister sought recuperation at a Wyoming ranch after suffering a nervous breakdown. He’d begin writing various pieces about the West, culminating in this 1902 magnum opus that he dedicated to his friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. It effectively created the Western genre we know today – a mysterious, chivalrous cowboy rides into the West, grapples with moral dilemmas, and encounters a schoolteacher love interest. It also contains classic genre features like horse-thievery, card playing, cattle driving, and a climactic gunfight that’s the first “showdown” in fiction. Truly a landmark work that was the best-selling book in the country for two straight years, garnering Wister fame and fortune and etching a key mythos into the psyche of the nation.