Pipe Night (Inscribed to his publisher)
New York: Duell. Sloan and Pearce, 1945. First edition, association copy. Hardcover. 205pp. Duodecimo [19 cm] Red cloth over boards lettered in black on the spine. With a slanted spine and mild darkening to the rear endpaper. In a worn dust jacket, which is torn in half, with some losses. With a torn advertisement for "Pipe Night" printed in the "New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review, March 18, 1945" tucked in. Bruccoli A.8.1.a. (the spine on this copy is lettered in black- Bruccoli states that it is "goldstamped"). Very Good / Poor. Item #67900
John O'Hara (1905-1970) was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where he was raised in an Irish Catholic household. After high school and the death of his father, he traveled extensively before working as a critic and reporter in New York City. O'Hara's fiction often depicted the social dynamics of upwardly mobile Americans from the 1920s through the 1940s. "O'Hara was fascinated by the effect of class, money, and sexuality among Americans, and his fictional representations of Hollywood and Broadway are thick with the snobbery of social structure." - (Britannica.com). His novel "Ten North Frederick," won the National Book Award in 1956, and was turned into a major feature film. He is also credited with helping to popularize "The New Yorker" magazine short story style.
Thirty-one stories, more than a quarter which had not been previously published. Warmly inscribed, on the very day of publication (according to Bruccoli), by the author to his publisher on the front free endpaper: "To Sam Sloan, / gentleman, scholar, / man of courage, / sensitive associate of / John O'Hara / New York / 14 March 1945." Samuel Sloan was vice president and treasurer of Duell, Sloan and Pearce. Unfortunately, Sloan passed away shortly after this book was inscribed to him.
Price: $750.00