1. White Fang by Jack London
Curated by Kevin Sherman
Photographs by Hayley Battaglia
2. Jack London
White Fang
Methuen and Company, London, 1907
Born under the name of John Griffith London in San Francisco, London
would inevitably become one of the most widely published American authors
of the 20th century. Many of his stories are drawn directly from his personal
observations of the places he illuminates through his writing, and White Fang
is no exception. The story, first serialized in Outing magazine, is considered
to be the sequel to the famous The Call of the Wild. The story revolves
around a wild wolf/dog in the Yukon Territory. The reader follows the
dramatic shift between a youthful, playful, and innocent pup into a cunning,
morose, and savage wolf. White Fang grows into a ruthless fighter able to
survive any sort of encounter due his mystical ability to always retain his
footing.
At the crux of the story, White Fang has become almost evil, knowing
only to fight and kill whatever is placed in front of him due to the worse and
worse treatment of his owners. However, after the only fight the wolf ever
lost, a new owner sought to redeem him from his past behavior and to tame
White Fang. The story evolves into a whirlwind of confused emotions and
actions on the part of White Fang based on not intuition but pure instinct,
sensation, and simple pattern recognition.
3. This splendid copy of Jack London’s White Fang is a first United Kingdom
edition printed in London, England in 1907. Published and printed by Methuen
and Company, who also published works from Robert Louis Stevenson,
Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot, and others, this copy is of excellent workmanship.
Charles Livingston Bull is the illustrator and he also designed the wolf vignette
cover frontispiece. Bull is an American artist whom from a young age greatly
enjoyed the drawing of animals. Greatly influenced by Japanese prints, as is
evident with the designs found in White Fang, Bull was a member of the
National Arts Club, the Architectural League, the Society of Mural Painters,
the Animal Painters and Sculptors, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the
Illustrator's Club, and many others. His work is widely exhibited in many
private collections and museums, and he has illustrated many of Jack London’
s original works.
Student Curator: Kevin Sherman
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. Pequot Library
Bringing Literature, Music, Art, Science & the Humanities to the Community
720 Pequot Avenue
Southport, CT 06890
(203) 259-0346
www.pequotlibrary.org
