Green Mansions.: A Romance of the Tropical Forest.

London: Duckworth & Co.,, 1904. First edition, first impression, second state binding of Hudson's "lost tribe" romance about an explorer to Venezuela and his encounter with "Rima the Jungle Girl". Rima later featured on the Hudson Memorial in Hyde Park, sculpted by Jacob Epstein. One later depiction saw her as a DC Comic character. A film of the novel was released in 1959 and starred Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins. As a comic book character, Rima would appear in DC Comics's Rima the Jungle Girl series (1974-5). Later depictions saw her appear with Aquaman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. As noted by Payne in his bibliography, "it was Duckworth's practice to blind stamp their device on the back cover of their publications. This stamping was inadvertently omitted from the earliest bound copies... When this oversight was discovered all succeeding copies were stamped". This copy is from the library of the prominent American book collector Paul Lemperly (1858-1939), with his bookplate engraved by the distinguished American bookplate engraver Edwin Davis French. A native of Ohio, he enjoyed a long career with the wholesale drug firms Benton Myres Company and Hall-Van Gorder Company. He published an account of his collecting in 1929 entitled Among My Books and his extensive library was sold at auction in January 1940. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, rear cover with publisher's device in blind (second state binding). Housed in a custom green cloth chemise and green morocco-backed slipcase. A few trivial marks to cloth but remarkably fresh, some minor spots of abrasion and slight paper residue to top of front endpaper, contents otherwise clean and fresh. A near-fine copy. Payne A23a; Sadleir 1233; Wilson A23.