Gardner, John

Freddy's Book

ISBN: 039450920X
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. "From one of America's most distinguished and admired novelists- an irresistible novel within a novel, a metaphysical folktale. It begins on a Midwestern campus as an aging, bespectacled professor of Scandinavian history announces to a younger historian and folklorist, "I have a son who's a monster." And in the middle of the night, it is this "monster," Freddy- a painfully shy, obese, eight-foot-tall adolescent (he hides himself away from everyone but his father)- who deposits in the visiting historian's room his book, Freddy's Book: a fabulous tale of sixteenth-century Scandinavia- of lords and peasants, of soldiers, knights, and bishops locked in combat to gain power, to keep it, and to subvert the Devil, whose bargain they all, in various ways, have accepted." (from front flap) The eleventh fictional work published during the lifetime of John Gardner (1933-1982), the brilliant & prolific American novelist, essayist, critic & academician who died tragically in a motorcycle accident at the age of only 49. A most complex & imaginative work, this novel features the novel-within-a-novel by the "monster" Freddy which reflects his relationship with his father, as well as grappling with historical concepts of good & evil. With beautiful, intense illustrations by Daniel Biamonte across jacket covers, spine & throughout text. Hardcover in unclipped first issue dust jacket (with $10.00 price printed on front flap, "3/80" on rear flap), first edition as stated on copyright page. A riveting production, & another most rewarding collectible in the Gardner canon in its rarest original form. Book in fine condition with mild rubbing to off-white cloth front, back covers & esp. spine (with gilt lettering on spine, author's initials on front cover mostly bright & intact); very light wear, rubbing to edges & corners of same; moderate rubbing & spotting to upper edge of text block; less at side & lower edges of same (the former untrimmed as issued); small publisher's (remainder?) logo stamped in red ink at upper text block edge near spine. Interior very fine with mild browning, light-blue wash (the latter possibly as issued) across paste-downs & endpapers; miniscule bleeding of spots to blank side edges of a few page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. Dust jacket relatively near-fine with mild rubbing, browning to front, back covers, esp. spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; a few short, closed tears & tiny chips with very slight loss of paper esp. at upper spine-edge & corners; small area of tape repair-reinforcement to blank inner jacket at front cover upper margin/ edge, corner & spine-edge not visible on outer surface. Fine / Near Fine. [Item #4616]

Price: $60.00