A club worth joining!

[Rob Wick]

I imagine the first edition would be the most valuable, although there are a large number of copies available. I have one that a friend bought me last year for about a dollar, I think. If it only has the first Billy Brown story, it would be the 1907 edition. When the Phillips Publishing Company brought it out after it appeared in the American Magazine, they didn't put in the other story which appeared that year called "Back There in '58." It was in the 1922 edition, when it was first reissued, that the other stories appeared.

Tarbell sold 12,000 copies of the book in 1907 alone. It was likely her best selling book throughout her life, although the Boy Scouts Life of Lincoln would be a close second. Boy Scouts all across the country had to read the book as a part of their service as a scout, and Springfield scouts had to read it before hiking from Springfield to New Salem starting in 1926. They still have to read a book about Lincoln before making the hike and write a 300 word report on the book they read, but it now can be any book on Lincoln.

Best
Rob