Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

Toronto: Baptist Book Room, 1894. First Canadian edition. 8vo. (viii), 7-304 pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on front free endpaper to Rev. O.C.S. Wallace: "To The Revd. O.C.S. Wallace M.A. A slight acknowledgment of gratitude for his kindly, Protean services rendered to 'Beautiful Joe' Marshall Saunders, Halifax. May 14, '94." Illustrated with frontispiece and plates. Publisher's green cloth, decorated in gilt, corners and spine ends rubbed and worn, soiling to boards; all edges trimmed; patterned endpapers; text block sinking; gutter split at title-page; small loss in bottom pp. 29/30 but not affecting text; scattered minor soiling to text; in brown cloth slip case and chemise.

Presentation copy of Margaret Marshall Saunders's classic tale of Beautiful Joe, considered the Black Beauty of dog novels. Inscribed to Rev. O.C.S. Wallace a Halifax Baptist minister, in the year of publication. Told through the perspective of Joe, a real-life dog that was rescued from an abusive owner, the novel was an instant bestseller, and sold over 7 million copies, and was translated into more than seven languages, in the three decades following its initial publication.