Item #63241 White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts. Giacomo Patri, Rockwell Kent.
White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts
White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts
White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts
White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts
White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts

White Collar: A Novel in Linocuts

San Francisco, CA: Pisani Printing & Publishing Co., [c.1940]. Third Edition. Paperback. Quarto [27.5 cm] in stiff black card wrappers with spine title and cover illustration printed in gray. Black and orange illustrations. Includes the afterword by John L. Lewis. The text block has pulled away from the staple binding at the rear joint (however it still holding tightly to the front wrap). The wraps have roughly a dozen minor areas of abrasion. There are insignificant moisture stains to the top edges of the preliminary pages, and there is a small piece of tape to the recto of the rear endpaper. The illustrations are very bold, with sharp contrasts. Very good minus. Item #63241

This edition, preceded by the two hand-made editions, is the third and final iteration of Patri's original vision.

A classic from the Great Depression and one of the finest examples of a 'wordless novel'. This work consists of 122 linocuts similar in style to the work of Frans Masereel or early Lynd Ward. Patri was inspired by the stock market crash of 1929 to create something that would help to unify (and unionize) the working classes. He began work on White Collar in 1930 and finally completed the book ten years later. Uncommon in any condition or edition.

"White Collar was to be my contribution to, what I believed then, an indispensable understanding of the necessity of unity among all American workers and voters. I was not a writer, so illustrations in sequence were I thought the answer.

"I had a printing press and lots of linoleum to use for linoleum cuts, so I set to work the idea of doing the entire job myself. I was young, naive and in a hurry, but I soon discovered that a book, a story, an ideal, each is a slow process, even with some help from the family. It took several years to engrave, print, bind and distribute a book that was seen by a very few people who did not need convincing." - Giacomo Patri - June,1975.

Price: $3,000.00

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