Roth, Philip

Letting Go

New York, NY: Random House, 1962. First Edition. Hardcover. "...Letting go is Philip Roth's first full-length work and easily justifies the expectation aroused after the publication of his first book, Goodbye, Columbus, a work that won an array of prizes culminating in the National Book Award for the most distinguished work of fiction in 1960. In Letting Go, Mr. Roth has brought his wit and insight to bear on a contemporary scene of love and responsibility. It is with the debts and sorrows of Gabe Wallach that we are primarily concerned, with his sporadic, back-handed and finally desperate attempts to find a proper relationship between his own worldly good fortune and the misfortune of others. Gabe's behavior throughout the four-year span of this novel can be described as a kind of frenetic contest between his sympathies and his instinct for self-protection- an instinct to which we all are prey, but of which Gabe becomes a victim." (from front flap) The second published work & first full-length 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 early, exemplary novel followed on the heels of Goodbye, Columbus, the short novel that catapulted Roth to literary fame (& was later the basis of an acclaimed film version); & the flap copy quoted above unabashedly rides the wave it generated. Many more classics were to follow in the long & prolific career of this outstanding figure of American letters. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $5.95 price & "6/62" printed on front flap), first edition, first printing as stated on copyright page. An essential collectible in the iconic Roth Oeuvre, in its rarest original form & in relatively quite fine condition: Book fine with mild rubbing, scratching to front, back covers & spine (with gilt lettering, logo & purple decorations mostly bright & intact); slight wear at edges & corners of same; light rubbing, browning & occasional spotting to side & lower edges of text block; mild fading to upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only slight fading, browning to blank blue paste-downs & endpapers; miniscule bleeding of spots noted above onto blank lower edges/margins of a few page leaves. Dust jacket fine with light rubbing & a few very small scratches to front, back covers & spine; slight wear & a few tiny bumps, spots, creases & closed tear-chips with minimal loss of black surface paper at edges & corners of same & flaps esp. front cover lower edge, corners. Please also see our Item No.s 3377, 4756 & 5004. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Fine / Fine. [Item #5112]

Price: $200.00