Description

Franklin Library leather edition of Booth Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons," a Limited edition, Illustrated by Roy Andersen, one of the PULITZER PRIZE series, published in 1977. Bound in deep green leather, the book has matching moire silk end leaves, acid-free paper, hubbed spine, satin book marker, gold gilt on three edges---in Very Good/near FINE condition---except for an inch-long scuff on bottom board near spine. [See Photo.] The novel is set in a largely-fictionalized version of Indianapolis and traces the growth of the U.S. through the declining fortunes of three generations of the aristocratic Amberson family in an upper-scale Indianapolis neighborhood between the end of the Civil War and the early 20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and socioeconomic change in America. The decline of the Ambersons is contrasted with the rising fortunes of industrial tycoons and other new money families, which derive power not from family names but by "doing things." The titular family is the most prosperous and powerful in town at the turn of the century. The young George Amberson Minafer, the patriarch's grandson, is spoiled terribly by his mother, Isabel. Growing up arrogant, sure of his own worth and position, and totally oblivious to the lives of others, George falls in love with Lucy Morgan, a young but sensible debutante. However, there is a long history between George's mother and Lucy's father of which George is unaware. As the town grows into a city, industry thrives; the Ambersons' prestige and wealth wanes; and the Morgans, thanks to Lucy's prescient father, grow prosperous. When George sabotages his widowed mother's growing affections for Lucy's father, life as he knows it comes to an end. " The Magnificent Ambersons" received the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. 298 pages. I offer combined shipping.