Murphy
New York: Grove Press, (1957). Single volume, measuring 8 x 5.5 inches: [4], 282, [2]. Original cream textured cloth, spine lettered in brown, original unclipped pictorial dust jacket printed in black and grey. Grove Press rubber stamp to copyright page. Spine and edges of jacket toned, with 2.5-inch split at lower flap fold; edges of cloth boards toned.
First American edition of Samuel Beckett’s first novel, originally published in London in 1938. Although best remembered for his groundbreaking work for the stage, Beckett first developed his bleakly comic vision of the human experience in his fiction: “Murphy never wore a hat, the memories it awoke of the caul were too poignant, especially when he had to take it off.” This first American edition was published by Barney Rosset’s Grove Press shortly after the American premiere of Waiting for Godot, in a dust jacket designed by painter Francine Felsenthal. A near-fine copy.
Price: $350.00