Roth, Philip

Portnoy's Complaint

New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1969. First Edition. Hardcover. "Portnoy's Complaint...n. [after Alexander Portnoy (1933- ) A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Spielvogel says: 'Acts of exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coitus are plentiful; as a consequence of the patient's "morality," however, neither fantasy nor act issues in genuine sexual gratification, but rather in overriding feelings of shame and the dread of retribution, particularly in the form of castration.' (Spielvogel, O. "The Puzzled Penis," Internationale Zeitschrift fur psychoanalyse, Vol. XXIV p. 909.) It is believed by Spielvogel that many of the symptoms can be traced to the bonds obtaining in the mother-child relationship." (front flap) The infamously controversial, hilarious fourth novel by Philip Roth (1933-2018), the great, award-winning & prolific Jewish-American novelist whose works have been enshrined (since before he died, a particular honor) in the Library of America series along with his canonical contemporaries Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud et al. This novel catapulted the already successful Roth to new heights of fame & fortune, & was the basis for the acclaimed 1972 film version starring Richard Benjamin as the hapless, compulsive & tormented protagonist Alexander Portnoy. Hardcover in clipped first-issue dust jacket (with $6.95 price intact on front flap, "2/69" on rear flap), first (trade) edition, first printing as stated on copyright page, published simultaneously with a limited signed & numbered edition. A cornerstone collectible in the iconic Roth oeuvre, in its rarest original trade form & in relatively exceptional condition: Book very fine with only slight rubbing (ha ha) to dark-blue cloth front, back covers & spine (with gilt lettering on spine & front cover quite bright & intact); slightest wear & fading at thin edges & corners of same; one small area of what appears to be glue-residue at upper right edge-margin of back cover (possibly a slight flaw as issued); light browning & spotting to side & lower edges of text block (the former untrimmed as issued); a touch of fading & a few faint scratches to red-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only light browning to blank paste-downs & endpapers, otherwise substantially mint. Dust jacket fine with just a bit of rubbing & a few short, faint creases to front, back covers, spine & flaps; very slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; loss of tiny amount of yellow surface paper at spine-edges & corners; one very small, circular scratch-gauge at/ above dot of second "i" in "Philip" at front cover with minimal penetration (pun intended?); several thin, unpronounced creases across length of front flap near/ at right edge. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #4756]

Price: $200.00