8vo. [32], 78pp, [2]. Uncut in original publisher's cloth-backed drab paper boards, lettered in gilt, housed in recent custom drab paper slipcase. A trifle rubbed and marked. Later inked ownership inscription to FEP, else internally clean and crisp.

The first American trade edition of James McNeill Whistler's (1834-1903) account of his dispute with fellow artist Sir William Eden (1849-1915). In 1894 Whistler painted the portrait of Lady Eden, for which her husband offered £100. Whistler accepted the payment, exhibited the painting, yet refused to deliver it. Eden instigated legal proceedings and subsequently recovered the funds. Whistler was ordered to hand over the portrait at the civil tribune in 1895, although ultimately, following two appeals in 1897 and 1900 respectively, he was granted ownership and Eden made to pay expenses. The case entered French law by establishing that artists do not enter into ordinary commercial contracts of sale with their patrons.