Deer Park

London: Allan Wingate, 1957. First British Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Impression of Mailer's third book, a roman à clef whose protagonist is a recently discharged Air Force officer and would-be novelist. Crown 8vo (182 x 115mm): 388pp. Publisher's French blue cloth, spine stamped in gold, matching blue top edge. Typographic dust jacket, priced at 15s. Virtually pristine (apparently unread), square and tightly bound and clean throughout. Yet another example of the value to be found in the graphically superior designs of most UK editions of American authors's works. Mailer's title refers to the Parc-aux-Cerfs, a resort Louis XV of France kept stocked with young women for his personal pleasure. The novel "seems to have been a literary response to the tempestuousness of his second marriage [in a notorious incident, Mailer stabbed his wife in the shoulder during one of their public arguments], but it also makes use of the impressions of Hollywood gained from his experiences as a screenwriter. The Deer Park is set primarily in Desert D'Or, an artificially developed oasis in the southern Californian desert modeled on the celebrity community of Palm Springs. The main character, Sergius O'Shaughnessy, is haunted by his war experiences and comes to the desert resort to restore himself physically, psychologically, and morally. . . . The war themes of The Naked and the Dead [Mailer's first novel] are revisited, as well as the political conflicts of Barbary Shore [his second], here treated in reference to the red-baiting of the McCarthy hearings." (Literary Encyclopedia) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).