Matt Thomas

Hopping on the Border (The life story of a bellboy) [Inscribed and Signed with original business card laid in]

San Antonio, TX: Naylor Company, 1951. Very Good / Good+. Item #32595

San Antonio, TX: Naylor Company, [1951]. First Edition. Octavo (21cm.); publisher's cloth in white photo-illustrated dust jacket retaining original price ($3.00); xii,170pp. Jacket margins quite chipped with long shallow losses along top edge of upper panel not touching text, additional losses to rear panel edges, light soil to front endpapers, else a Very Good copy in a Good or better jacket. Inscribed and signed by the author on half title page together with the book's special rubber-stamp.

Autobiography of the beloved retired bellhop who completed his storied career at the El Jardin Hotel in Brownsville, TX. Thomas was born in 1888 to a formerly enslaved father and an Alabaman mother, spending his first twelve years with his family as sharecroppers in Mississippi. In his summary, Thomas lists twenty-two professions he has held, including butcher, tailor, barber, waiter, cook, ice cream maker, poolroom owner, and, finally, bellhop. "I have been a successful failure."

This copy offered with the author's business card listing him simply as "author of 'Hopping on the Border'" and giving his PO box in Brownsville, TX.

Price: $300.00