LITERATURE AS A MID-CENTURY BUSINESS GIFT

Edwards, Harry Stillwell (1855–1938)

“Minc”—A Plot and A Born Inventor [1954 Christmas Keepsake — Inscribed by Harvey J. Barnwell]

Jacksonville, Florida: Privately issued by Harvey J. Barnwell, 1954.
A SOUTHERN LITERARY CHRISTMAS KEEPSAKE.
A privately issued 1954 Christmas keepsake bringing together two stories by Georgia author Harry Stillwell Edwards, 'Minc”—A Plot' and 'A Born Inventor'. The small-format volume was issued as a Christmas presentation by Jacksonville contractor Harvey J. Barnwell, whose name and the date 1954 appear in gilt on the front cover.

This copy was personally presented by Barnwell to Mellen Greeley, connecting the literary keepsake with Jacksonville's mid-century building and construction community.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: A SMALL-FORMAT PRESENTATION VOLUME.
+++ Bound in stiff red boards with an open-flare form and gilt lettering to the front. 
+++ Photographic portrait frontispiece of Harry Stillwell Edwards. 
+++ Title page printed in black with ornamental device.
+++ 39 pages. Approximately 5 by 7 inches.
+++ The front cover reads “Minc”—A Plot and A Born Inventor by Harry Stillwell Edwards / Christmas Greetings / 1954 / Harvey J. Barnwell.

CONDITION: GOOD. Boards show light handling and rubbing, with some fading and dulling to the gilt lettering. Interior generally clean with scattered foxing, principally to the endpapers and adjoining leaves. Binding remains sound. Front edges 'flair open'.

PRESENTED BY JACKSONVILLE CONTRACTOR HARVEY J. BARNWELL.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper:
Mellen Greeley from Harvey J Barnwell. 1954

Harvey J. Barnwell was associated with the Jacksonville construction firm Harvey J. Barnwell Inc., a Florida general contractor. The presentation gives this copy a direct connection to Jacksonville's mid-century building trade.

Greeley also owned professional building and engineering material associated with Jacksonville's Florida Georgia Brick & Tile Co., providing additional context for the relationship between the recipient and the local construction industry.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: GEORGIA LITERATURE RECAST AS A JACKSONVILLE BUSINESS KEEPSAKE.
Harry Stillwell Edwards was a Georgia author, journalist, and humorist whose fiction frequently drew upon Southern life and regional characters. 'Minc”—A Plot dates from the late nineteenth century and, together with A Born Inventor, appeared among Edwards's collected stories.

Their revival in this compact 1954 Christmas volume illustrates a now largely vanished business custom: the privately produced literary keepsake distributed to friends and professional associates during the holidays. Barnwell's choice of Edwards—particularly a pairing that includes A Born Inventor—creates an appealing intersection of Southern literature, regional business culture, and Jacksonville's postwar construction community.

SUBJECTS: Georgia Literature, Southern Fiction, Jacksonville Florida,  Christmas Keepsakes, Business Gift Books, Florida Construction History,  Southern Literature, Short Stories, Christmas Keepsakes, Private Printing, Regional Literature, Presentation Books

Item #22499

Price: $35.00