Ferguson, Robert (Miller, Henry; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence)

Henry Miller: A Life

ISBN: 0393310191
New York, NY, USA: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. First Softcover Edition, Second Printing. Softcover. From the library of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, with his ownership signature. "The only biography Henry Miller ever wanted was the one he himself wrote in the brash, life-affirming fictions of The Tropic of Capricorn, The Tropic of Cancer, and The Rosy Crucifixion. But Robert Ferguson's new biography tells a different tale; for where the novels are sexually explicit and brutally frank- woundingly so to those close to Miller- they are also the fantasies of a man escaping from his past, and from himself." (from back cover) The acclaimed, comprehensive biography of Henry Miller (1891-1980), the great American author & artist whose earlier works were a major influence on the Beat Generation, by Robert Ferguson (b. 1948), the British-born Norwegian author. First published as an English-language hardcover in 1991, we here offer the first trade-format softcover edition of 1993, second printing as indicated by number sequence at copyright page. With two sections of captioned historical photographs of Miller & Co., his antecedents, family etc. What makes this otherwise not-particularly-collectible copy quite special is that it is from the library of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), the canonical American poet, publisher & bookseller. On the front endpaper/ shorter title page, at blank upper right margin, Ferlinghetti has hand-written his ownership signature (stylized last name only as often customary) in thick light-blue ink. A rich & rewarding Miller-related collectible, in a near-contemporary form with exceptionally important provenance. In even relatively only fair-to-good condition, & therefore priced accordingly: mild rubbing, mostly faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning & staining to edges of text block. Interior fair-to-good with significant age-toning to blank inner covers esp. at margins/edges; moderate-to-significant age-toning to page leaves esp. at blank margins/edges; moderate (water?) stains at various areas of some page leaves resulting in some mild waving thereon but never causing illegibility of any text; tiny bumps, faint creases at corners of some leaves. Fair-Good. [Item #8103]

Price: $30.00