In the charming wrapper by Fritz Wegner

SALINGER, J. D. ~ The Catcher in the Rye.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Hamish Hamilton, London: 1951.

8vo., blue boards, spine lettered in silver with publisher's device to foot; together in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (10s. 6d. net) featuring a design by Fritz Wegner; THE BOOK a good copy, a little darkened along spine with some rubbing to the silver; boards a little marked and pushed at corners, with evidence of a Boots Library sticker having been removed from the upper cover; internally clean, just a few marks to the fore-edge, one small black ink mark and very light water marking to the lower edge of the text block; THE WRAPPER very good, the front panel retaining much of its original colour, light rubbing and creasing to folds; the spine a little darkened with one small vertical and one horizontal crease; a little chipped to spine tips with a couple of small holes; beginning to split but holding, unrestored internally. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. Salinger's most famous work, originally serialised between 1945–46, and published in book form in the U.S. eleven days prior to this U.K. edition. Early iterations of the story had appeared as early as 1941, when Salinger had submitted a short piece, 'Slight Rebellion off Madison', to the The New Yorker. The Caulfield family appeared in various publications over the next few years, although when it came to getting the manuscript published, it was rejected by Harcourt, Brace and Company before finally being accepted by Little, Brown and Company, at the behest of Salinger's agent. Now seen as one of the great classics of twentieth century literature, the story of Holden Caulfield's expulsion from school, romantic entanglements and search for human connection in a hostile New York City became somewhat of an icon for adolescent rebellion. Between the 1960s and 80s it was one of the most censored books in the US, due to its violent and sexual references, as well as its coarse language and promotion of other 'distasteful' activities such as smoking and drinking. In a later interview, Salinger claimed that the work was semi-autobiographical, "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book, and it was a great relief telling people about it," he claimed. Despite its current fame, Salinger's story received only a lukewarm reception upon publication, with many branding the wording as coarse, the characters precocious, and the writing style too exhibitionistic. Subsequent to its publication, Salinger became something of a recluse, and refused any advances for the work to be dramatised, including from Hollywood and Broadway. To date, it has never been made into film, with Salinger's ex lover Joyce Maynard later claiming that "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger." Nonetheless, its influence in adolescents and young people grew, perhaps most famously for Mark David Chapman - who was convinced that murdering John Lennon would turn him into the novel’s protagonist. It became "the book all brooding adolescents had to buy", Salinger's biographer Ian Hamilton later wrote, "the indispensable manual from which cool styles of disaffection could be borrowed." This, the UK edition, features dramatically new artwork by the prolific illustrator and dust jacket designer Fritz Wegner. The cover shows one of the later scenes in the novel when the protagonist, after having quarreled with his sister, buys her a ticket for the carousel in Central Park.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Good
JACKET: Very Good