First Edition

Book Supply Company, 1909, burgundy cloth cover, greenish tan dust jacket with no illustration.

List of editions

Value Guide

Background

Harold Bell Wright served as pastor of  the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lebanon, Missouri from 1905 to 1907.  After he left he wrote this story of a young preacher who courted a woman in what is obviously this same town.  As with his other early books, this book is largely autobiographical.  Like the hero of the book, Wright was himself struggling with the question of whether he could remain in the pastoral ministry and be true to himself.

Related Inscription

Novelists don't usually "explain" the books they write, but in a book store in Monterey, California I found a copy of The Calling of Dan Matthews in which he had penned the following, based on a quotation from Shakespeare:

Collecting

    All American first editions are by the Book Supply Company and most look exactly like the illustrations above.  The first edition was also available in full leather, and in "half leather," that is with the corners and spine in leather. Before BSC turned the book over to Burt for reprints they also sold some copies at a lower price, with the words "Popular Edition" stamped inside the front cover. Hodder and Stoughton published a British first edition, plus additional editions.  The book was reprinted many times by A. L. Burt, Grosset and Dunlop, Appleton, McLeod & Allen, and Triangle.  Most of the early reprints carry no indication that they are not first editions.  More recently the book has been re-published by Bethany, with the text "edited" [lightly fooled around with] by a Michael Phillips.

Though this was Wright's third book, it was his first one to reach the million sales mark, getting there shortly before the Shepherd of the Hills.  And a high percentage of this title were first editions, so they are quite common, both in first editions and reprints.  First printing (Mott): 100,000, second printing: 100,000, total: 1,085,000.  Dust jackets are rare.

Notes for owners of "Books and Collectibles"  Click for list of editions

p.  McLeod and Allen, is 1909, a United Kingdom first edition.  Appearance identical to American first edition.

s. Pelican, 1995, paperback.

Related Books:  Some Christians, especially some pastors, were outraged at the message and conclusion of The Calling of Dan Matthews.  Alexander Corkey immediately wrote, The Victory of Allen Rutledge: A Tale of the Middle West (H. K. Fly Company, New York, 1910, illustrated by Florence Rutledge Wilde, 319 p., 8vo. decorated blue cloth covers), to counter Harold Bell Wright's book and give the "proper" message.  Three years later Corkey followed it with a sequel, The Vision of Joy, or When "Billy Sunday" came to Town, (H. K. Fly Company, New York, 1913, illustrated by Raymond L Thayer.) --Thanks to Eric Tudor for the tip.

Review of Book by Dr. Joyce Kinkead  Copyright 1979 by Joyce Kinkead.  Used by Permission.           

          [Like That Printer of Udell's] The Calling of Dan Matthews, published in 1909, focuses on [a] man, the title character, who made the decision to affiliate himself with the church in a ministerial role.  Although this novel again focuses on practical Christianity, its attack on the churches is far more bitter than the one found in That Printer of Udell's.  Wright's first novel has an optimistic ending in which the two "infidels" eventually become church members.  In The Calling of Dan Matthews, there is no hope, for Dan is asked to leave his pastorate at the request of the elders of the church, and he decides to go into business rather than to pursue the ministry.

            The plot of this novel serves as a sequel to Wright's second novel, The Shepherd of the Hills.   Continue 

• Go to fourth book:  The Uncrowned King >>>