Fabulous Hoosier : Jane Fisher [ Signed , Carl Fisher , Montauk , Miami ]
$150
Out of stock
Description
Signed first edition of Fabulous Hoosier , the biography of Miami and Montauk Beach real estate developer Carl Fisher
Fisher, Jane. Fabulous Hoosier A Story of American Achievement. Robert McBride and Company. New York. 1947. Presentation Copy. First edition.
First edition of the biography of eccentric car and bicycle salesman, racing enthusiast, and real estate tycoon Carl Fisher, written by his first wife Jane, who married the eponymous “Fabulous Hoosier” at age 15.
A self-made millionaire famous for his promotional exploits, such as flying a car over the city of Indianapolis from a balloon, Fisher made and spent a fortune building Miami Beach out of a mangrove swamp before the dual injuries of the Great Hurricane of 1926 and the Stock Market Crash of 1929 destroyed his empire. Fisher, who had just invested millions into turning the tiny fishing village of Montauk at the eastern tip of Long Island, NY into “The Miami Beach of the North” never recovered from these setbacks and died nearly penniless, in 1939. In addition to building Montauk Tower, The Montauk Manor, Montauk Downs Golf Course, the Starr Island Yacht Club, and dynamiting Lake Montauk to create a deep-water harbor, Fisher Island, just off Miami’s Biscayne Bay, served as Fisher’s private home and retains his name to this day.
A unique copy of the fascinating portrait of Montauk’s forgotten founder from one of those who knew him best with photo plates of Carl Fisher ’s promotional stunts and the development of the Lincoln Highway, Miami Beach, and Montauk .
8vo, 263 pp. Blue cloth boards with title gilt to front, title, author, and publisher to spine. Edge wear with discoloration and some pigment loss running from lower fore edge along bottom edge to spine. Front and back top corners rubbed. Bookblock spotted. Pastedowns and endpapers toned. Inscribed by author on first free endpaper “To ‘Pinky’/ with love from/ ‘Grandma’/ Jane Fisher.” Small tear to bottom of pg. 222. Pages otherwise clean. 15 photograph illustrations. Illustrated pictorial dust jacket. General discoloration and wear with significant losses along front and back fore edges. Losses and chipping along bottom edge and both spine ends. 1/4” chip missing from front spine joint. Back hinge partial split. Small tear to top of back interior flap. A good condition in a fair condition.
If you liked this book you might also like this signed copy of the 1919 biography of Horace Traubel, the literary executor to Walt Whitman.
