Malamud, Bernard

A New Life

New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. "This is the story of S. Levin, thirty, a bearded man with a burdensome past, who comes from New York to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, to live a new life." (front flap) The third novel by Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), the great Jewish-American author in the acclaimed twentieth-century canon along with his contemporaries including Saul Bellow & Philip Roth, all of whose works are now venerably enshrined in the Library of America. This relatively early work is perhaps not as well-known as his first novel, The Natural (1952), or his next, The Fixer (1966), both of which were the basis of popular films. But A New Life is nevertheless exemplary, critically lauded & rewarding. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket with front cover illustration by Milton Glaser, first edition, "First Printing, 1961" as stated on copyright page. An essential, rare & desirable Malamud collectible. Book in fine condition with light rubbing to front, back covers & spine (with spine lettering & front cover motif all-but-completely bright & intact); mild-to-moderate wear, fading & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same incl. very slight loss of green cloth to lower spine-edge, corners & lower right corner of front cover; light rubbing, browning & sparse spotting to side & lower edges of text block; moderate fading, light scratching & spotting to red-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with slight browning & spotting to blank paste-downs & endpapers; previous owners' small sticker affixed at upper right margin of front endpaper; otherwise substantially mint. Unrestored dust jacket relatively good-to-near-fine with moderate rubbing, browning & occasional spotting to front, back covers, & esp. spine; mild wear, tiny bumps & creases at edges & corners of same & flaps; several short, mostly closed tears with very slight loss of paper esp. at corners & spine-edges; moderate browning at thin upper flap edges & corners. Fine / Good- Near Fine. [Item #4510]

Price: $100.00