Sailing Alone Around the World.
"I had already found that it was not good to be alone, and so made companionship with what there was around me, sometimes with the universe and sometimes with my own insignificant self; but my books were always my friends, let fail all else": First Edition of Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around The World; Inscribed by Him
Sailing Alone Around the World.
SLOCUM, Captain Joshua.
Item Number: 21069
New York: The Century Co, 1900.
First edition. Octavo, original blue cloth. Pictorially stamped in silver and green, top edge gilt. Signed by author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “Yours truly on leave ashore Joshua Slocum November 1900.” In very good condition with some rubbing and wear to the spine tips, contemporary inscription below Slocum’s. Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty and George Varian. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.
Sailing Alone Around the World was published by Century Company in 1900. The sailing memoir records Slocum's amusing experience as the first person to sail around the world alone. National Fisherman called it "[a] literary gem, adroitly and engagingly written," but interest extends beyond mere sea-aficionados. Excitement for the voyage was universal, and Slocum was awaited by admirers at his ports. To these he gave popular lectures and lantern-slide shows upon his arrival, including the English writers Edwin Arnold and Arthur Ransome. The memoir was first published in installments before its popularity became such that it was issued in lavishly illustrated book form. Slocum conveys an appreciably casual, almost self-deprecating, style. Contemporary reviews speak as well of it even now as "one of the most readable books in the whole library of adventure" (Sports Illustrated). "There is so much to this book that it is not surprising that it is has been continually in print since 1889..this book has literary merit, thoughtful and beautifully written and packed with incident" (Nautical Magazine).
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