FROM MISSOURI: AN AMERICAN FARMER LOOKS BACK by Thad Snow Houghton Mifflin Co., First Edition, 1954 Condition: Very Good+ to Near Fine in Good dust jacket From the front cover flap: "FROM MISSOURI is both a personal history and a sociological study of a period and a geographical and cultural section of this country. It is Thad Snow's story -- rambling, loquacious and down to earth -- and also the story of what farmers and sharecroppers were up against in floods and the inequities of the farm tenancy law. Through it all runs the author's love and understanding of the land, animals and people and an astringent and ironic humor as American as Mark Twain's." 341 pages. The book has only light cover corner and spine end wear; a page-by-page check of the text shows only moderate page toning, no tears, creases or markings (just a small "88" stamped on the rear free fly leaf); the binding is fully secure. The jacket, featuring a wrap-around painting by famed illustrator Thomas Hart Benton (done especially for this book), has moderate-size pieces off at the spine top (affecting only the title), part of the back cover top edge and a smaller vertical one along the left edge of the spine; there are also some edge corner wear and small scratches and a stain on the front cover. Still, the painting is little compromised by the defects and it remains quite a handsome dust cover. This first edition (date matches on title and copyright pages) is somewhat uncommon and especially collectible in the dj.