8vo. Printed in orange and black throughout, illustrations by Don Sayer Groesbeck. Original green pictorial boards.

FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF BASEBALL'S GREATEST POEM. William Randolph Hearst hired Thayer as humor columnist for The San Francisco Examiner, where he worked from 1886 to 1888.  "Casey" was his last piece for the publication, which he signed "Phin,"  and which ran on 3 June 1888. Laid in is an editorial reaction from The San Francisco Examiner about that piece.  "But there is no joy in Mudville -- Mighty Casey has struck out." A BRIGHT COPY.