The Last Romantic: The Story of More Than a Half-Century in the World of Art

New York: Twayne Publishers, 1960. Cloth, 262 pages, illustrations. 24 cm. ASSOCIATION-PRESENTATION COPY. Signed and warmly inscribed by the author, "To Upton Sinclair, after an unbroken lifelong friendship from Martin Birnbaum". Numbered "6" of 500 copies printed on handmade paper. Dust jacket, price-clipped on the front flap, protected in a mylar book cover. Author Upton Sinclair, famous for The Jungle and other works of fiction, then gifted or loaned the book to another close friend Richard Stuart Otto, who managed Sinclair's run for Governor of California in 1934. A handwritten note from Sinclair to "Dick" signed by "Upton", is pasted onto the front free endpaper. Also inserted: a handwritten letter from Birnbaum, dated 1961, to Otto, thanking him for corresponding with him about the book. Martin Birnbaum (1878-1970) was a New York art dealer with an aristocratic background. He boasts in this book: "I was probably the first person in America to purchase or exhibit the works of such men as Lehmbruck, Kokoschka, Gargalo, Feininger, Klee, Pascin, Ensor, Munch and others." In a New York Times obituary of Birnbaum, Upton Sinclair is referred to as "an old friend and City College class mate.". SIGNED. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo. Collectible.