Fled by Davis (5 results)

Jacket design by Abner Graboff (illustrator). FIrst Edition. Debut novel from L.P. Davis about a young Boise transplant to the New York City of the late 60s, the previously-underknown author whose star has recently risen thanks to the critical attention of Jonathan Lethem and a reissue of his follow-up novel A Meaningful Life on New York Review of Books. Very Good in a Very Good jacket. Hardcover [octavo] in illustrated dust jacket. Gray boards backed with brown cloth, gilt lettering stamped to spine. 247 pp.

hardcover. Condition: Good. Signed "Sincerely L.J. Davis 1/21/68" else Unmarked hardcover in unclipped jacket. Jacket shows edge wear and a few dings. Top edge decorated in blue. 247 pages.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 247pp. Brown cloth over gray boards. Gilt titles on spine. Binding tight, corners solid, slight spine lean. Text block clean and unmarked. Dust jacket shows mild wear at spine ends but remains intact, not price clipped. Davis's debut novel, in which Robert Probish leaves his home in Queens and moves to a tenement on the Lower East Side, in an attempt to find himself. His efforts lead nowhere - the world around him insists on tormenting him, one way after another - and he finds himself alone in the end. One of Davis's four novels, which include A Meaningful Life, reissued in 2009 with an introductory essay by Jonathan Lethem. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 247 pages. First edition, first printing. Dust jacket design by Abner Graboff. His first book. Fine book in a fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy!

Paperback. Unrevised Proofs. Author's first book. New York's East Village is a challenging arena for one's formative years and a fictional favorite for first novels. Anything goes. In this case it happens to 18-year-old Robert Probish. Refugee from bleak family life in Queens with vague artistic leanings. Robert is really unformed. And shapeless. His overly solicitous landlord Mr. Goldfarb almost turns him anti-Semitic; his hang-over friends from high school use his tenement pad for love-ins; a neighbor's boyfriend threatens to emasculate him; another neighbor, Stark, a gloomy artist from Nebraska, fascinates and antagonizes him. In these short weeks Probish's friends gas him with roach spray; send him out on a "mixed drink" trip (LSD and amphetamine); he is used by Stark to contact an old benefactor (an aging homosexual); and eventually everyone combines to literally tear the walls down driving landlord Goldfarb to a heart attack. The book thrives on scenes and there are some genuinely funny moments. Uncommon format green plastic spiral bound, measures 7 1/2 x 11 inches. Printed cardstock covers (light green) with pasted on publisher slip to front cover; title, author, publication date and tentative price. First page is a long synopsis of the book. A very good copy with a few broken green plastic teeth of the plastic spiral binding at the bottom, no dust jacket, as issued.