
Appointment in Samarra
Price: $4,000.00
Original Wraps. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934. First Edition. Very Good.
First edition, advance reading copy (ARC). Publisher's pictorial wrappers designed by Alfred Maurer, with the iconic deco design of a car driving through a hilled landscape in green, yellow, and black, lettered in yellow and black, and top of front flap priced at $2.50. Very good or better, with some light toning and wrinkling to spine, a few light nicks to edges, and some thumbsoiling to p. 34. Overall, an attractive and clean copy. Housed in a custom black clamshell box. Appointment in Samarra tells the tragic story of protagonist Julian English as he delves into a downward spiral of self-destruction. Like the fast-paced plot, which takes place over the course of only three days, O'Hara wrote this novel in an expeditious four months when he was only twenty-eight years old. Although criticized for the candor with which he presented socially taboo sexual encounters, Appointment in Samarra is notable for propelling O'Hara to literary prominence. Item #JOH013