Description
The first edition, first printing of The “Home-Run King” by Babe Ruth, with the scarce dust jacket.
Octavo, [6], 240pp, [10pp ads]. Green cloth, title stamped in blue. No additional printings mentioned. Includes frontispiece portrait. Notable wear and staining to boards, dampstain to foredge of the first three chapters. Dust along top edge of text block, offsetting to endpapers. In the publisher’s dust jacket, archival tissue repairs to hinges, dampstain to rear panel, soiling to covers, a stable example of this scarce jacket.
A scarce piece, with notable condition issues.
The “Home-Run King” (1920) was marketed as being “by Babe Ruth,” but the book was ghostwritten by one of a handful of notable writers, all arranged by Ruth’s first agent, Christy Walsh. Two notable writers used by Ruth include Ford Frick, who later became the commissioner of baseball and Bill Slocum, who wrote with the “authentic voice” of Ruth.
