About this Item
First UK edition published in 1951. Originally published in the US by Little Brown & Co., Boston on 16th July 1951. The UK edition has the attractive dustwrapper illustration by Fritz Wegner. ***Very good in light-blue cloth-covered boards with silver titles to the spine. The silver is still nice and bright. The boards are quite clean and unmarked, but there is browning and fading to the top and tail of the spine and edges of the boards. There is some creasing at the top of the spine and front board near the spine, with a small closed tear to the cloth. Small bump to the fore-edge of the front board. Corners sharp. The spine is tight with no reading lean. There is hardly any foxing to the page block edges, which are quite clean - the top edge just slightly darkened. Internally the book is also very good, with clean pages and just very light foxing to the first and last few pages. Small stain at the top corner of the front free endpaper. Original readers of the book have slightly creased the bottom edge of the pages where they have turned each page, but this is not very noticeable. No serious creasing and no tears. There is a neat contemporary gift inscription to the front free endpaper 'From John, Christmas 1951'. ***In what can best be described as a poor surviving example of the original illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped and retains the original publisher's printed price of 10s. 6d. net. Please note that the spine of the dustwrapper has completely gone, but the front and back panels and foldover flaps are still present! There are chips out of the top edge of the front panel, but Fritz Wegner's distinctive cover art is still largely complete. The back panel also has some loss at the top edge but this doesn't affect any of the text. Edge wear and small areas of loss at the corner tips and extremities. Small closed tear and associated creasing to the bottom edge of the back panel which is however quite clean. (Please see scans) ***210mm x 145mm. 253 pages. ***'"The Catcher in the Rye" is a novel by J. D. Salinger, partially published in serial form in 1945-1946 and as a novel in 1951. It was originally intended for adults but is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst, alienation, and as a critique of superficiality in society. It has been translated widely. The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression. The novel was included on Time Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century."' (Wiki) ***"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all." (p.205-6) ***A first UK edition of J. D. Salinger's fabulously successful debut, and only, novel, "The Catcher in the Rye". Whilst this example has many faults as described, copies of the true first UK edition are now very hard to find in any condition now. Copies retaining the dustwrapper are even scarcer, as the dustwrapper is extremely thin and fragile - most copies are damaged to a greater or lesser degree. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.
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