Published by Jonathan Cape, London; 1995. 8vo. 451pp. First edition, first impression. Condition: Fine/Very Good+
Bound in original red cloth boards with title in gilt to the spine, the binding is square and tight and in very smart condition, with just a hint of bumping to the spine ends and corners. Inside, the pages are clean and bright, free from blemishes or damage.
The book is housed in its original, first issue, dust jacket, illustrated with the painting Sailor and Girl by Otto Dix, 1925. The jacket is vibrant and bright with only a little bumping to the edges, and one small mark to the rear panel. IT is otherwise in lovely condition.
In all, this is a very smart and collectible example of this modern first by Philip Roth, winner of The US National Book Award for Fiction in 1995. This work is a comic creation of epic proportions, and Mickey Sabbath is its gargantuan hero. At sixty-four Sabbath is still defiantly antagonistic and exceedingly libidinous; sex is an obsession and a principle, an instrument of perpetual misrule in his daily existence. But after the death of his long-time mistress - an erotic free spirit whose great taste for the impermissible matches his own - Sabbath embarks on a turbulent journey into his past. Bereft and grieving, tormented by the ghosts of those who loved and hated him, he contrives a succession of farcical disasters that take him to the brink of madness and extinction (blurb). This is a highly entertaining novel by Philip Roth, a masterpiece and one of Roth's own favourites among his work. A must have for any modern collection.