The Sacred Fount

London: Methuen & Co., 1901.. First British edition. 8vo. (iv), 316, 47, (1) pp. Publisher's crimson cloth, gilt lettered to the spine and upper board, the latter with elaborate blindstamped decoration, the bookplate of a Mary Landon Baker featuring an illustration of a Venetian palazzo to the front pastedown. Mild fading to the spine and slight bumping to the ends and the corners, very good overall. Mary Landon Baker (1901-61) was an American socialite who cut quite a dash through US and, later, European high societies. She was described as "Chicago's best gift to Europe" and purportedly received 65 marriage proposals. Baker famously jilted one lover three times, to the point where "Mary Bakered" became a common colloquial phrase to describe someone who had not turned up for an important event. Edel and Laurence, A55b. Scarcer than the first US edition published by Scribner's nine days earlier. This is the first issue with the catalogue at the rear dated "November 1900". The work sold poorly, but was reissued twice ten years later off the back of his more successful work "The Outcry". The publishers used the remaining sheets from the original printing, with the catalogue at the rear dated either March or August 1911.