John Reed to Lincoln Steffens

Boston: Small, Maynard and Company, (1910). First edition, first impression. Inscribed on front free endpaper by radical American journalist John Reed to American journalist--and leading muckraker of the period--Lincoln Steffens: "Christmas 1911 / To Steff, the Poet, / from / Reed the poetaste". Original printed tan paper-covered boards, spine slightly darkened, small stain bottom of front board; text partially unopened; without the rare dust-jacket; in quarter crimson morocco slip case and chemise. Gallup A6

A fine first edition of this fragile production, inscribed by radical American journalist John Reed (1887-1920) to fellow journalist, and leading muckraker, Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936). A family friend, Steffen helped launch Reed's career, first as a mentor at Harvard, and later by landing him a job at the American Magazine. Reed would go on to report first-hand the outbreak and aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, immortalized in his most famous work Ten Days that Shook the World (1919). Steffens, equally drawn into the orbit of communist politics, visited the U.S.S.R. in 1919, after which he famously quipped, "I have seen the future, and it works."