The Moth
Price: $80.00
Hard Cover. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. First Edition. Near Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, first printing. Publisher's gray cloth, lettered in green, and yellow topstain; in its original pictorial dust jacket designed by Arthur Hawkins, Jr., with an illustration of a luna moth over a teal background to the front panel, lettered in white and black. Near fine book, with light toning to spine and board edges; very good unclipped dust jacket, with some toning to spine, light wear to head of spine, a few faint spots of staining to rear panel and spine, light rubbing to edges, and a few small closed tears to top edges of panels. Overall, a pleasant copy. The Moth tells the story of John Dillon, who matures over the course of the novel from a young boy with a beautiful singing voice into a man who has been hardened by the roadblocks he encountered along the way. Notably, The Moth takes its title from a luna moth that Dillon encounters, which signifies for him "what is fine and good" and offers temporary relief from the brutality of his life. The book - a social commentary on the Great Depression - was arguably Cain's most ambitious, though it was met with somewhat mixed reviews, prompting Cain to remark "a simple tale, told briefly, is what people really like." Item #JMC007
