List, Ye Landsmen! A Romance of Incident

London: Cassell and Company, 1893 . First edition. Leather. Very Good. 8" by 5.5". None. A signed presentation copy of the scarce first single volume edition of this nautical adventure novel, with a signed letter from the author"s wife, Annie Clark Russell. The scarce first single volume edition of this work, which was first published in a vanishingly scarce three volume edition earlier in the year.Flat signed to the half title "To A.P. Watt from his friend W. Clark Russell".Watt was a British literary agent generally regarded as the first true literary agent following his arrival on the literary scene in the late 1870s. From the library of A. P. Watt & A. S. Watt of A. P. Watt and Son, literary agent of Rudyard Kipling.With a letter from the author"s wife loosely inserted, addressed "Dear Mr. Watt, my husband has asked me to send you the accompanying copy". She explains "he would write to you by himself but he was too ill". She closes with "I trust you are well, with our kindest regards […] Annie Clark Russell".Clark"s novel is a seafaring adventure set in 1815, when tensions in Europe ran high. Russell was best known for his nautical novels, and among his contemporary admirers were Herman Melville, Algernon Swinburne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In a half morocco binding, with marbled paper covered boards. Light fading to back strip as is common with blue morocco, with light rubbing to back strip head and tail and joints. Internally, firmly bound. Inscribed to half title. Pages generally clean and bright, with only the odd spot. Very Good