McCullers, Carson

Clock Without Hands

Boston, MA; Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company/ Riverside Press, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. "Here is a book which faces directly the overwhelming question of good and evil and reaffirms our faith in the dignity of life. J.T. Malone, the unwilling hero of this powerful novel, is engaged in an inner struggle that parallels his impending death. Through extreme moral suffering he discovers the greatest danger is not death but the loss of one's own self in life, and because of a decision of conscience, he acts and finds himself. His story is interwoven with that of the old Judge and former Congressman, Fox Clane, and Jester, the Judge's adolescent grandson. All three characters move to their accomplished destiny through Sherman Pew, a blue-eyed Negro boy. Their story is told with that curious blend of humor, compassion, irony and power, which characterizes all of Carson McCullers' writing." (from front & rear flaps) The fourth & final full-length novel by Carson McCullers (1917-1967), the great American Southern Gothic author whose haunting works have been enshrined in the canonical Library of America series. Hardcover in clipped dust jacket (undoubtedly first-issue with circular cut-out window onto title at front cover), first edition, first printing as stated on copyright page. From the collection of Dr. Stanley Hurwick Levy (1926-2020), an esteemed American physician who met & conferred with Albert Einstein while a student prodigy at Princeton University during the 1940s, & was among the most legendarily prolific book collectors of them all, over many years. This writer was privileged to attend a presentation/tour conducted by Dr. Levy at his home here in Michigan some years ago, & was duly most-impressed with his vast & varied collection. An essential McCullers classic collectible in its rarest contemporary form, with distinguished provenance. Book in relatively quite very fine condition with only a touch of wear, fading & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mild rubbing, browning to edges of text block esp. upper edge. Interior very fine with only a hint of browning to blank margins/edges of page leaves. Dust jacket (again relatively, especially with this particularly delicate & complicated production) near-fine with mild rubbing, browning, faint scratching & waving to esp. front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild-to-moderate wear at edges & corners of same incl. some shallow chips esp. at upper spine-edge, corners with minor loss of paper; several short, mostly closed tears at rim of cut-out opening at front cover with minor loss of paper, surface paper; clear plastic window-sheet pasted behind cut-out generally clear with some faint scratching, smudging. Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #6425]

Price: $100.00