The Five Hundred Dollar Check. [$500].

ALGER, Horatio.

$2,800.00

Item Number: 149449

New York : United States Book Company, 1890.

First edition, first state of this rare novel. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece, illustrated. This book was produced by “Porter and Coates” in 1890 but acquired and released by “The American Book Company,” The first state copies were then distributed with the Porter and Coates name purposefully blacked out with dye on the bottom portion of the spine to obscure their name until such a time as the new publishers name could be added.  At the time of Ralph Gardner’s authoritative 1971 bibliography of Horatio Alger states, “I know of only one copy (my own) of the first state. The Library of Congress keeps the second state (the Lovell imprint on the spine) in its rare book vault.” In very good condition. Rare with only one example appearing at auction in the last 100 years.

The Five Hundred Dollar Check is a classic example of his "rags-to-riches" formula, where a young man finds a way to overcome poverty and achieve success through hard work and honesty. The story often involves a fortuitous encounter with a wealthy benefactor, leading to the protagonist's upward mobility.