NINE STORIES - INSCRIBED TO LILI LEFFERTS

Salinger, J.D.

Edité par The Modern Library, New York, 1959

First Printing. Octavo (18.5cm); light grey cloth, blocked and titled in black and gilt on spine and front cover; black topstain; patterned endpapers; dustjacket; [x],[2],3-302 + [8]pp ads. Inscribed by Salinger on the verso of the half-title page in black fountain pen, to his dentist's daughter, using his childhood nickname: "for lili lefferts / Sonny Salinger." Some wear to spine ends and corner tips, with gentle sunning to upper board edges; contents clean; Very Good+. Dustjacket is price-clipped, gently spine-sunned, lightly shelfworn, and a little dust-soiled, with a few tiny nicks and small tears, and a tiny puncture at rear flap fold; Very Good+. Housed in a custom half-morocco clamshell case.Salinger's second book and first collection of short fiction, gathering nine stories which first appeared in the pages of The New Yorker and Harper's magazine, including "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," "The Laughing Man," and "For Esmè with Love and Squalor." Salinger suffered from a variety of dental issues throughout his life, beginning in childhood. He had a high and arched palate, and struggled with the upper and lower right side of his mouth, which caused him considerable pain and discomfort and required a complex series of dental procedures. Most of these were carried out by the Salinger's family dentist, Dr. Bernard Lefferts (1897-1971). Salinger's father would frequently take him into New York City for dental visits, he knew Dr. Lefferts, his wife, Lile Feil Lefferts (1915-1992), and their children Lili and Bernice, from the time of his youth. "Sonny" was a childhood moniker used only by those closest to him, and it was not a name he used much after the late 1950s - early 1960s. Both dentists and the importance of dental care figured into Salinger's work, both in his short fiction ("The Laughing Man" and "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period") and in his coming-of-age novel The Catcher in the Rye, when Holden Caulfield described his prep school hallmate Robert Ackley. Salinger loathed signing books, and those inscribed using his childhood moniker are extremely uncommon. Provenance: From the Lefferts family, this copy first offered by Ken Lopez Bookseller in 2008. We know of two other Salinger titles inscribed to members of the Lefferts family (a ninth printing of Catcher, inscribed to Dr. Lefferts, and a fifth printing of Franny and Zooey, inscribed to Lili and Bernice Lefferts), offered by Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in their 1998 catalog Post-War Literature. Starosciak A35c. N° de réf. du vendeur 7424

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : NINE STORIES - INSCRIBED TO LILI LEFFERTS
Éditeur : The Modern Library, New York
Date d'édition : 1959
Signé : Signé par l'auteur
Edition : First Modern Library Edition.