The Smart Set' 175 issues 1908 - 1923 Exceptional

May 11, 2022

Lot 16

The Smart Set' 175 issues 1908 - 1923 Exceptional

Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000

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About this Lot

Description

[F. Scott FITZGERALD, Edna St.Vincent MILLAY, Damon RUNYON, Dorothy PARKER, Dasiell HAMMETT and many others, contributors]. The Smart Set. Sept.1908 – Dec.1913, Sept.1914 – April 1918, June 1918-Aug. 1918, Sept. 1918 – Dec.1923. Octavo, 175 issues only (of a possible 184 in the run). Vol. 26, Number 1 – vol. 72, number 4 (missing vol.42 #1-4; vol.43 #1-4; vol.55 #1. NB vol.56 #2-4 and vol.57 #1 were never published – a numbering mistake by the printer/publisher). Numerous illustrations and advertisements. Original wrappers (some damage, some covers lacking, but generally acceptable given the length and rarity of the run).

Individual copies of ‘The Smart Set’, and even short runs are available, but the substantial nature of this run makes it highly unusual, probably unique. This run was assembled in the 1920s and 30s - a feat which could probably not be achieved today.

The influence of ‘The Smart Set’, a monthly journal inaugurated in 1900, reached its widest spread between 1914 and 1923 under the joint editorship of George J. Nathan and H.L. Mencken. The present run starts in September 1908 with the issue which contained the latter’s first published contribution to the magazine, and ends with the pair's resignation.

Renowned at the time for its humor, sophistication and irreverence, ‘The Smart Set’ is now a literary vehicle to be wondered at, a widely-read platform which gave a lift to the careers of a pantheon of pioneering authors: in part this included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edna St.Vincent Millay, Dashiell Hammett, Sherwood Anderson, Dorothy Parker, Sean O’Casey, Ezra Pound, Damon Runyan, Jack London, Eugene O'Neill, and James Joyce.

'The Smart Set' also offers a hugely valuable contemporary commentary on American theater, literature, and thought: this powerful critique was influential at the time in molding taste and can now be studied as a primary historical record of a long-decade which is arguably the richest-ever era of American arts and creativity. (175)

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