The Tiger in the House

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1950. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth with gilt spine lettering and blind-stamped front board medallion, pictorial dust jacket. x, 367pp. Illustrations. Near fine/very good. Mild jacket edgewear; front endpaper rather age toned. A tight, quite nice fourth printing of this 1920 classic -- and bearing a huge, bold inked inscription and signature from the author on front flyleaf: "For Gordon North / because I liked / him -- / from / Carl Van Vechten / in New York / April 17, 1962." Front jacket panel touts: "This great treatise on Felis domestica describes the history, manners, and habits of the cat and explores his relation to folklore, music, painting, law, poetry, and fiction. It has long been considered the best book ever written about the cat." This Iowa-born writer (1880-1964) penned many novels in the teens and '20s such as the controversial "Nigger Heaven" (1926) before turning to photography, where he is known for portraits of the countless celebrities with whom he circulated; he was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance; a long-time close friend of Gertrude Stein, she named him her literary executor.