Dickey, James

Deliverance

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970. First Edition. Hardcover. "This novel by James Dickey, who is one of America's finest poets, is a heart-stopping tour de force, an overpowering, unforgettable tale of violent adventure and inner discovery. Four men embark on a three-day canoe trip down a particularly wild section of a river in the heartland of today's South. They are, with one exception, seemingly average suburban Americans: A mutual funds salesman, a supervisor in a softdrink company, and a successful art director in a consulting firm who is the story's narrator. For them the trip represents a break in the domestic routine, a chance for adventure with few real risks, and the last occasion to see a beautiful valley unvisited and free before the river is dammed up. Their leader, an enthusiastic outdoorsman and champion archer, is obsessed by the desire to pit himself against nature." (from front flap) The first & most famous novel by James Dickey (1923-1997), the award-winning American poet & novelist who was the United States Poet Laureate (1966-1968). This unforgettable novel was the basis for the perhaps even more unforgettable film version directed by John Boorman (1972) starring Bert Reynolds, Jon Voight & the recently deceased Ned Beatty, whose role as the victim of predatory mountain men is one of the most disturbing ever depicted. Hardcover in clipped dust jacket, first edition, "First Printing C" as stated on copyright page, & with date of "03/70" at lower left margin of front flap. A majestic & tough American classic in its rarest original form. Book fine with slight wear, sunning & fading mostly to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; series of very small-to-tiny bump-creases at lower right corner of front cover; one tiny spot at lower edge of back cover; slight bending of spine & binding toward front; light rubbing, scratching & occasional spotting to edges of text block; mild fading to green-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only mild browning-fading to blank green paste-downs & endpapers; otherwise all page leaves substantially mint. Unrestored dust jacket relatively good-to-near-fine with mild-to-moderate rubbing, scratching, creasing & light spotting to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps at edges & corners of same esp. spine-edges & corners with very slight loss of paper; tape repairs over what appear to be small burn marks at interior spine & slightly into cover margins (not visible on outer jacket). Fine / Good-Near Fine. [Item #4451]

Price: $150.00 save 25% $112.50