Salinger, J.D.

Franny and Zooey

Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. "The author writes: FRANNY came out in The New Yorker in 1955, and was swiftly followed, in 1957, by ZOOEY. Both stories are early, critical entries in a narrative series I'm doing about a family of settlers in twentieth-century New York, the Glasses. It is a long-term project, patently an ambitious one, and there is a real-enough danger, I suppose, that sooner or later I'll bog down, perhaps disappear entirely, in my own methods, locutions, and mannerisms. On the whole, though, I'm very hopeful. I love working on these Glass stories, I've been waiting for them most of my life, and I think I have fairly decent, monomaniacal plans to finish them with due care and all-available skill." (from front flap) The third & penultimate book-length work published by J(erome) D(avid) Salinger (1919-2010), the canonical American author who catapulted to fame with his first book, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), among the most-read & acclaimed novels in all of world literature. Famously reclusive, Salinger spent much of the last half-century of his life attempting to escape his fame & stubbornly disengaged from larger society. Even over sixteen years after his death as of this writing, we are still waiting for the further stories he teasingly claimed to be writing in the flap copy quoted above (interesting in itself having been written by, rather than about, the author). Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition as stated at copyright page, first printing/state as far as we are able to determine based on all Talmudic points we are aware of, including $4.00 price printed at front flap of dust jacket, grey cloth covers & spine etc. From the collection of George Bornstein (1941-2021), the esteemed American author, scholar & academician here at the University of Michigan who was a dearly missed friend of this writer. At upper left area of blank front paste-down, Bornstein has hand-written his ownership signature in thick, now slightly faded blue ink, & below that: "Franny- Oct, '61/ Zooey- Nov. 27, '61." This notation, presumably referring to when Bornstein read the two works herein, is further proof of this copy's status as a first printing. The third of four iconic Salinger collectibles that remain his core legacy, in its rarest contemporary form & with most-distinguished provenance. See also esp. our item No. 6475. Book in relatively fine condition with slight rubbing, very occasional spotting to front, back covers & spine (letters & graphics at spine somewhat dulled but appearing entirely intact); mild fading to margins/edges of same; very slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; slight bending of spine-binding toward front; mild rubbing, a bit of age-toning & occasional spotting to edges of text block esp. upper edge. Interior fine with mild age-toning to blank paste-downs & endpapers esp. at margins/edges; very slight age-toning to page leaves, chiefly at blank margins/edges; tiny bumps & small, faint creases at esp. upper corners of a few leaves. Dust jacket relatively good-to-near-fine with mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning, mostly faint scratching & occasional spot-staining to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; several very short, mostly closed tears esp. at spine-edges/corners with minimal loss of paper, surface paper. Fine / Good-Near Fine. [Item #9206]

Price: $400.00 save 10% $360.00