Sep 30, 2021 - Sale 2580

Sale 2580 - Lot 142

Price Realized: $ 938
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(ILLINOIS.) Nicholas J. Pritzker. Three Score after Ten. 15 plates. [12], 205, [1] pages, 8vo, full morocco gilt, minimal wear; all edges gilt. In plain cloth slipcase with light staining. [London]: ©1941 [printed circa early 1970s?]
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This is the memoir of Nicholas Pritzker (1871-1956), a Jewish immigrant from the Ukraine who became a prominent lawyer in Chicago. His descendants became wildly successful and are frequently listed as one of the wealthiest families in America, founding the Hyatt hotel chain, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Great-grandson J.B. Pritzker is the sitting governor of Illinois. On the Pritzker Group's website, the governor is asked "What is your favorite book? Why?" and he replies "Three Score After Ten by Nicholas Pritzker. It tells the story of an immigrant family's escape from oppression and of the author's struggles and success in America. It's in many ways the story of an entrepreneur, beaten down at times but never lacking in optimism and willing to fight on to attain the American Dream." The memoir is not in print, or accessible on line.

One of the stranger phrases in bookselling is "excessively rare." Usually rarer means better. This one might be excessively rare, though. It is so scarce we have no real concept of its potential value, and can trace little of its printing history. OCLC lists just one copy in 320 leaves, bound at a Brooklyn bindery, at the family-founded Pritzker Military Library. The Chicago History Museum holds a 2001 archival reproduction of a 205-page edition "to replace the irreparably deteriorated original." The present copy does not look like it dates from 1941, nor does it appear to be in any danger of deterioration--the paper stock is crisp and of an obviously high quality, with minimal wear. A colophon leaf explains that it was typeset by Moorgate Typesetting of Parkrite Street, London SE5 7TR and printed by Dramrite Printers Ltd. of 91 Long Lane, Southwark, London SE1 4PH. The postal codes date the printing no earlier than the early 1970s. Other books produced by Moorgate and Dramrite at these addresses date from the early 1970s. This appears to be a later printing. However, we find no examples of any printing on ABE books or in the auction history. It appears to be scarce in any edition--perhaps excessively so.