Day Locust, Signed (8 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. Book of the Month Club issue. Stapled wraps. No hardcover edition. 8pp. Introduction by Stone. Signed by Stone on the front wrap. Shallow wrinkle on upper corner of front wrap. Near Fine condition. Issued by BOMC to accompany their reissue of Nathanael West's Hollywood novel. Uncommon as such. Signed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Reprint. SIGNED without inscription on title page by actor William Atherton, who starred in John Schlesinger's 1975 adaptation of the book; faint staining on rear board, gentle rubbing to board edges; NO dust jacket; a New Classics reprint ; Signed by Actor.

Hardcover. Book Club Edition. Signed without inscription on the title page by actor William Atherton, who starred in the 1975 film adaptation of 'Day of the Locust'; scarce hardcover containing two of West's classics, near fine in very good jacket (now in mylar) ; some rubbing and edge-cracking to jacket, text is clean and tight with mild shelfwear to the boards; Signed by Actor.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Hardcover. Number 84 of 400 numbered copies signed by the photographer, Lucy Gray. There were also 26 lettered copies for complimentary distribution. The author of this pivotal work died at the age of 37 along with his wife in a car crash in 1940, a year after this book was published. It took years for the book to become recognized as an American classic and for critics to agree now that it is the best novel ever written about Hollywood. In his introduction, the film critic and historian David Thomson discusses the novel and its relationship to Hollywood and the movies in the Golden Age of the late thirties and its importance to American fiction. The twenty photographs were taken by Lucy Gray, an award winning photographer and film maker. She and David Thomson, writer of the introduction, are married. The book was designed and produced by the Press under the direction of Andrew Hoyem. It is bound in a chartreuse cloth with green titling to the spine, and the word "Locust" on the cover with what appear to be a swarm of locusts. It is letterpress printed in Monotype Bodoni Book type on Italian Mouldmade Magnani Velata paper, lighter for the text and heavier for the photographs that are tipped into die-stamped recesses. The photographs are done in the manner of stills as if taken at night. They were printed in duotone over a metallic silver ground, overlaid with varnish. Housed in a green paper covered slipcase, edged in the chartreuse cloth. Accompanied by two copies of the prospectus, one of which has a slip stating that it is a revised prospectus. The first prospectus has a sample photograph from the book. In fine condition. Measures 7 x 9.75 inches. 180 numbered pages plus twenty unnumbered pages for the photographs. Signed.

Hardcover. Condition: New. Lucy Gray (illustrator). 9-3/4 by 7 inches, with 180 numbered pages plus twenty unnumbered pages for the photographs. The paper is Italian mouldmade Magnani Velata, in two weights, lighter for the text and heavier for photographs which are tipped into die-stamped recesses. The text and photograph captions were printed by letterpress from Monotype Bodoni Book. The photographs were printed in duotone over a metallic silver ground, overlaid with varnish. The binding is full cloth, in a chartreuse color, over boards with titling and the image of a rising cloud of locusts on the cover. The book is presented in a cloth and paper covered slipcase. The edition is limited to four hundred numbered copies for sale. All copies are signed by the photographer. When Nathanael West died, in a car crash that also killed his wife Eileen, on December 22, 1940, he was not a well-known author. In 1939 his novel "The Day of the Locust" was published. F. Scott Fitzgerald, who died the day before the Wests, had written: "The Day of the Locust has scenes of extraordinary power. Especially I was impressed by the pathological crowd at the premiere, the character and handling of the aspirant actress, and the uncanny almost medieval feeling of some of his Hollywood background set off by those vividly drawn grotesques." Despite this appreciation, it took years for the book to become recognized as a modern American classic and for critics to agree that "The Day of the Locust" is the best novel ever written about Hollywood. The novel is pivotal in literary history. It is by turns surreal, revealing of the shams of the motion-picture business, seedy, sinister, macabre, doped-up, sexy, funny, and tragic. As David Thomson states in his introduction: "Nathanael West was one of the first writers to feel that disappointment in America, and to relate it to the false promises, the shine of advertising, and the cult of being good-looking and happy, that had come with the movies. . . . This is the classic American dream slipping over into nightmare; it is the locusts eclipsing the sunlight". The introductory essay by the distinguished film critic and historian David Thomson elucidates the novel and its relationship to Hollywood and the movies in the Golden Age of the late thirties, its importance to American fiction, and its continuing relevance today. Without giving too much away, it provides the reader with an outline of the story and a guide to an appreciation of its broad and subtle effects. The twenty photographs are done in the manner of movie stills, as if taken at night. Discrete captions below the photographs identify the subjects. ___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.

First Edition. Signed and inscribed by Nathanael West to his mother-in-law, Sophie Perelman, the mother of S. J. Perelman: "For Sophie P. - with love from Pep May 6, 1940." S. J. Perelman was the husband of Laura Weinstein Perelman, Nathanael West's only sibling. Publisher's rose cloth withe printed paper label, in dust jacket and custom clamshell box. Cloth faded and used; a good to very good copy, in a price-clipped jacket with chipping to the head and foot of the spine. The missing areas have been replaced with matching paper, and the entire jacket has been professionally backed on verso with Japanese tissue. Inscriptions by Nathanael West, who died in an automobile accident in 1940 at age 37, are uncommon, and particularly unusual in his major novels, Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust.

Limited edition, number 119 of 426 issued and signed by the photographer Lucy Gray. The novel was first published in 1938 and "remains the best of the hundreds of Hollywood novels written before the 1970s. F. Scott Fitzgerald. said that the novel had 'scenes of extraordinary power'" (ANB). It was adapted for the screen in 1975, starring Donald Sutherland. Since 1974, Andrew Hoyem's Arion Press has been producing fine limited editions in the heart of San Francisco, using letterpress equipment dating from the 1910s. Overseeing every aspect of book production in-house, they are the only unified hot-metal type foundry, letterpress workshop, and book bindery in the United States. Hoyem won the San Francisco Living Treasure Award in 2010 for his decades of contribution to both book arts and the city. Octavo. With 20 offset lithographs after photographs by Lucy Gray, tipped in. Original green cloth, spine and covers lettered and decorated in green, endpapers green, fore edge untrimmed. With slipcase, as issued. A fine copy.

Mimeographed, 118 pages, plus additional revised pages, dated , 9/26-10 /73, pinned in plain covers. Occasional pencil marks and dog ears reveal it was obviously used at some point in production. Directed by John Schlesinger. Signed by the cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, and inscribed and signed by Karen Black.