Miller, Henry

The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder

New York, NY: Duell, Sloan, & Pierce, 1948. First Edition. Hardcover. "This space is invariably reserved for a brief discussion of a book's contents, with the aim in mind to inveigle and lure you, the hesitating purchaser, into buying it. The composition is generally referred to by people in the book business by the unattractive name of the "blurb." It is supposed to say a few interesting things about the author and to tell just enough of the story and characters of the particular book to make you want to know more. But for a story as distinctive and as distinguished as THE SMILE AT THE FOOT OF THE LADDER a conventional blurb would be a bit ridiculous. It is a story about a clown. "A clown is a poet in action," says Henry Miller. "He is the story which he enacts." And that is just about all that needs to be said about this book." (Edwin Corle, from front & rear flaps) A mid-career story by Henry Miller (1891-1980), the great American author & artist whose earlier works influenced & inspired the Beat Generation. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition, first printing (though neither specified as such at sparse copyright page), with all points in Shifreen & Jackson, A66(a), pgs. 208-209. S&J notes (with our supplemental observations) that this volume was "Published in March 1948 (as noted at colophon), at $5.00 (as printed at front flap), in an edition of 5,000 copies." (pg. 209) A beautiful & unique production designed by Merle Armitage (1893-1975), the noted American set, theater & book designer- producer; with an introduction by the acclaimed American author Edwin Corle (1906-1956); & with reproductions of clown & circus-related artworks by Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Toulouse Lautrec, Pablo Picasso & other Masters of Art throughout. From the collection of Dr. Stanley Hurwick Levy (1926-2020), an 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 astounded at the breadth & variety of his outstanding collection. An essential Miller collectible in its rarest contemporary form, with distinguished provenance. Book in relatively quite fine condition with only a touch of rubbing to front, back covers & spine; mild wear incl. minor loss of surface paper & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; mild rubbing & browning to side & lower edges of text block; slight rubbing, fading & faint scratching to red-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only mild browning to decorated pastedowns, endpapers & page leaves (the latter chiefly at blank margins/edges). Dust jacket (again relatively) good-to-near-fine with mild-to-moderate rubbing, faint scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild-to-significant wear at edges & corners of same incl. tiny bumps, creases & several small chips, partially closed tears with minor-to-moderate loss of paper, surface paper esp. at front cover- & spine-edges/corners. Fine / Good- Near Fine. [Item #6483]

Price: $200.00 save 15% $170.00