Cheever, John

The Day the Pig Fell into the Well

Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 1978. Limited First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Signed by John Cheever. An exemplary short story by John Cheever (1912-1982), the great American author who has been canonized in the Library of America series. Originally published in The New Yorker magazine during 1954, this comfy-cozy yet portentious little literary gem was deemed worthy by Cheever of being included in his Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of collected stories published in 1978. Cheever is especially acclaimed as a short-story writer, & as his excellent biographer Blake Bailey writes in one of the LOA editions he edited, Cheever's "...stories rank among the finest achievements of twentieth-century fiction." In this story, a genteel American WASP family, the Nudds, gathers at their summer compound in the Adirondacks of New York State & engages in the ritual of remembering amusing aspects of the title incident. As it progresses, the story darkens as some of its characters meet tragic fates, leaving the family matriarch to muse on the illusion of security, as described in Cheever's inimitably elegant, evocative & haunting prose. Offered here is a limited production issued the same year as this story appeared in the collected stories (1978), hardcover in illustrated boards without dust jacket as issued, with cloth spine to which strip with title & author is affixed. One of 275 hand-numbered copies signed by Cheever at colophon, this is copy No. 49/275. A most rare & beautiful John Cheever collectible, in exceptionally very fine condition with only a touch of rubbing to front & back boards; very slight wear at edges & corners of same & brown cloth spine. Interior very fine, substantially mint with off-white leaves very slightly & naturally tinged with brown (not from age-related browning). Very Fine. [Item #5195]

Price: $175.00