Amick, Steve

Nothing But a Smile

ISBN: 9780307377364
New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Inscribed, signed & illustrated by Steve Amick. "It's 1944, and Wink Dutton, a former illustrator for Yank and Stars and Stripes, has arrived in Chicago after an injury to his drawing hand gets him an unwanted discharge from the service. Renting a room above the camera shop run by Sal Chesterton- the wife of Wink's buddy, still stationed in the Philippines- Wink is surprised to learn how Sal is making ends meet: producing pinup photos for the soldiers' favorite girlie magazines. In fact, she's using herself as a model. When Wink becomes a partner in her covert enterprise, it's the beginning of a collaboration that is both wonderfully sexy and pure, one that blossoms into a subtle and unexpected romance. Their work leads to Wink's reinvention as a photographer and, as the war ends and the business expands, to a shared understanding of the painful adjustments to be made in the rapidly changing postwar world." (from front flap) The second novel by Steve Amick (b. 1964), the award-winning Ann Arbor-born American author, published in the wake of his acclaimed, popular novel The Lake, the River & the Other Lake (2005). Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $24.95 price printed on front flap, "3/2009" on rear flap), first edition as stated on copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. On the title page, Amick has hand-written, drawn & signed in bold black felt-tip ink (which has leaked slightly onto leaf verso/ copyright page): "To Roberta-/ (within drawing of a camera which forms a window around & overlaps title & author) Best Wishes/ (signed) Steve Amick." A delightful Amick collectible, accurate to the era it depicts, in its rarest original form & greatly enriched by the author's inscription, signature & imaginatively appropriate drawing. Book in very fine condition with only a hint of wear at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; ink leakage noted above; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only a bit of rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps with miniscule loss of surface paper. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5532]

Price: $40.00