Boyle, Kay; Jong, Erica; Miller, Henry; Sanchez, Thomas

Four Visions of America

ISBN: 0884961265
Santa Barbara, CA, USA: Capra Press, 1977. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Erica Jong, Thomas Sanchez, Kay Boyle, and Henry Miller. "JONG, SANCHEZ, BOYLE, MILLER, as disparate a crew as America is a country, have created a crashing concert of voices that could bring down Mt. Rushmore. Their voices are territorial, separated by emotional gorges and visionary peaks, and combining to make coherent music, not the modulations of a chamber group, but a struggling song to fill the sky. Don't expect gentle reassurance. All four documents, written especially for this book, are loaded. Each detonates in its own way, each author writing of what he or she finds most compelling." (from front flap) Four provocative essays by four legendary American writers. In order: "Report from Lock-Up" by Kay Boyle (1902-1992), the acclaimed & award-winning author & activist; "The Real Cowboys and Indians" by Thomas Sanchez (b. 1943), the Spanish-Portuguese descended novelist; “East-West Blues: A New Yorker Goes West" by Erica Jong (b. 1942), the pioneeringly explicit feminist author; & "A Nation of Lunatics" by Henry Miller (1891-1980), the great author & artist whose earlier works were an influential precedent for the Beat Generation, especially its Founding Father Jack Kerouac. Four distinct perspectives clash over the essence of the USA by several generations' most fearlessly innovative writers. This publication is the only instance that we know of when these four disparate-but-kindred figures were gathered together. Also available at Third Mind Books is an unsigned trade edition (see our item #5720). From the collection of Dr. Stanley Hurwick Levy (1926-2020) — legendarily precocious Princetonian (where he walked and talked and studied with the likes of Albert Einstein, among others) — before embarking upon a prodigious, near mythic seventy-year career as a practicing physician, during which he collected prolifically. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket: First Limited Edition, as stated at colophon (published simultaneously with a softcover and trade edition per copyright page), one of 225 copies signed by all four authors; this is copy no. 222/225 (Shifreen & Jackson, A209a, pg. 462). The four signatures are found below the number line at colophon: Sanchez in blue ink, Jong in green ink, & Boyle and Miller in black ink (see photos). Book is in Very Fine condition with only slight discoloration from age along the top and bottom edges of covers. Dust jacket is in Near Fine condition with moderate rubbing, scratching, scuffing to front, back covers; a hard crease line to front and back flap edges. Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #6374]

Price: $250.00