Five Books by Richard Harding Davis, First Eds 1897 - 1915. These are five first edition books by Richard Harding Davis (1864 -1916), an American journalist and writer, known mostly as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and World War I, and his writing greatly assisted the political career of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (from 1901 to 1909). Davis' mother was a prominent writer in her day and his father was a journalist and editor of a Philadelphia newspaper, and he gained attention for his flamboyant style and his writing about controversial subjects such as abortion, suicide and public executions. (In 1889 he reported on the devastating flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and he added to his reputation by reporting on the first electrocution of a criminal - the execution of William Kemmler - in 1890.) Davis became a managing editor of Harper's Weekly, and was one of the world's leading war correspondents at the time of the Second Boer War in South Africa.Davis is considered the model for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson's dashing "Gibson man", the male equivalent of the famous Gibson Girl. Davis is mentioned in Sinclair Lewis' book Dodsworth as the example of an exciting, adventure-seeking hero, and he had success with his 1897 novel Soldiers of Fortune, which he turned into a play and a movie - his novel was filmed twice (in 1914 and in 1919). During the Spanish-American War, Davis was on an American warship when he witnessed the shelling of Matanzas, Cuba, a part of the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, where all the Spanish ships were sunk, with no loss to the American side; his story made headlines, but as a result, the Navy prohibited reporters from being on board any American naval vessel for the rest of the war, so in some ways, his success backfired on him. Davis was a good friend of Theodore Roosevelt and he helped create the legend surrounding the Rough Riders; he was in Cuba at the charge of San Juan Hill and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, and his reputation as an active war correspondent was solidified when, at the Battle of Las Guasimas, he directed the fire of about half a dozen soldiers towards the Spanish, firing some 20 rounds from a borrowed carbine himself. The Americans suffered dead and wounded, and since Davis actually was a combatant, his involvement was not lost on Roosevelt, who offered him a commission in the unit. Davis demurred, however, and accepted instead one of the three honorary memberships ever given by the Rough Riders.Often associated with yellow journalism, his writings were widely published. He covered the Russo-Japanese War from the perspective of the Japanese forces, and during the First World War, he was arrested by the Germans as a spy, but was eventually released, and his writings about the Cuban and Porto Rico Campaigns remain a primary source for Spanish-American War research.The books are all in beautiful custom-made slipcases, with four raised bands, five gilt-ruled compartments and gilt lettering and gilt devices on the spines, an inner fold-over slipcase, and the slipcases are almost like pulling out drawers from a bureau or dresser. The first book here is Soldiers Of Fortune, a first edition published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1897 and illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson, with black lettering on the spine, a decorated cover, blank endpapers, an illustrated frontispiece, "1897" on the copyright page, which makes this a first edition (there is just a single date on the title page and copyright page, and the dates on the title page and copyright page match - "First Edition" is also on the spine of the outer slipcase - and the book is 364 pages long, with six black and white illustrations, and Charles Dana Gibson was an important nineteenth century illustrator, best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl. (See A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions by Bill McBride, 1995.) The book is 8vo. and measures 7 1/2 x 5 in. wide, the slipcase is 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in. wide, the bindings are tight and the pages are pretty clean, with a few brown spots on a couple of pages, some corner creases on some pages, and soiling on the book covers and spine. The second book here is The Lion And The Unicorn, published in New York by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1899 and illustrated by Howard Christy, a first edition, with a gilt decorated spine and cover, the binding is cloth and not leather (one of the points of issue that makes this a first edition), with blank endpapers, an illustrated frontis, one page of Contents and a List of Illustrations, 204 pages of text, and four pages of ads for Davis books at the rear. Howard Chandler Christy was an American artist and illustrator who created the famous Christy Girl, a colorful successor to the Gibson Girl; he was also known for his World War I military recruitment and Liberty loan posters. The book is 12mo. and measures 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages and images are clean, with bright gilt on the spine and covers, very light bumps at the heel, light wear at the tips, and one tip slightly bowed in. The outer and inner slipcases are in great condition too. The third book is In The Fog, published in New York by R. H. Russell in MCMI [1901] and the copyright page is also dated 1901, which means this is a first edition (the dates on the title page and copyright page match), with an art-nouveau gilt-decorated spine, a navy blue cloth with a fantastic gilt-decorated paste-down cover, blank endpapers with the owner's name inscribed on the first flyleaf, a frontis illustrated by Thomas Mitchell Peirce & F. D. Steele, a two-page List of Illustrations, 155 pages of text, colored and black and white illustrations, and the book is a detective story set in London and the only mystery by Davis. The book is 8vo. and measures 8 3/8 x 5 3/4 in. wide and the outer slipcase is a bit bigger, the bindings are tight and the pages and images are clean, with a small spot on the front cover, light rubbing at the crown and heel and the tips, the tips are slightly turned in, and the book is a turn from the gung-ho adventure stories usually written by Davis. The fourth book is The Red Cross Girl, published in New York by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1912, and the copyright page is also dated 1912, which makes this book a first edition because the dates on the title page and copyright page match, the green spine is decorated in gilt lettering, the front board is decorated in gilt lettering along with a pictorial paste-down, with blank endpapers and the owner's name, Mary C. Cooper, inscribed on the front flyleaf; the frontispiece and all the illustrations are done by Wallace Morgan, there's a Contents page and a List of Illustrations, 270 pages of text and four pages of ads for Richard Harding Davis books published by Charles Scribner's Sons at the rear, a chapter on the German invasion of England in 1911 and why it failed starting on page 103, and the book comes in that beautiful custom-made outer slipcase and a fold-out inner casing to protect the book. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages and images are very clean, with very light bumps on the heel and crown, light wear on the front paste-down and just specks of wear at the tips. The last book is Somewhere In France, published in New York by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1915 and the copyright page is also dated 1915, which makes this a first edition (because the title page and copyright page have the same date), with green boards and gilt-lettering on the spine, a gilt-decorated cover, blank endpapers with ""H B Hooke" on the front flyleaf, a colored frontis, the title page, then one page of Contents, 224 pages of text, and four pages of ads at the back for Richard Harding Davis books published by Charles Scribner's Sons. The book is 12mo. and measures 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. wide, the slipcase is 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages are pretty clean, with a few light brown spots on a couple of pages, the gilt on the chateau has flaked off on the front cover, there are light bumps on the crown and heel, light rubbing at the tips, and a couple of tips are turned in. The set is very attractive in the crimson slipcases, and written by a war correspondent who had the ear of an American President as well as the American public in the early 1900's and illustrated by top-notch artists like Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Chandler Christy. #39 #1613