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Humboldt’s Gift.

Humboldt’s Gift.

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Humboldt’s Gift.

by Bellow, Saul

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
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Seller
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Palm Beach, Florida, United States
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About This Item

New York: The Viking Press, 1975. First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Karyl, with love I could never have done it without your patient help Saul." The recipient, Karyl Kylie typed the manuscript of this novel. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with just a touch of wear. Jacket design by Mel Williamson. An exceptional association. Humboldt's Gift is a self-described "comic book about death," whose title character is modeled on the lyric poet Delmore Schwartz. Charlie Citrine, an intellectual, middle-aged author of award-winning biographies and plays, contemplates two significant figures and philosophies in his life: Von Humboldt Fleisher, a dead poet who had been his mentor, and Rinaldo Cantabile, a very-much-alive minor mafioso who has been the bane of Humboldt's existence. Humboldt had taught Charlie that art is powerful and that one should be true to one's creative spirit. Rinaldo, Charlie's self-appointed financial adviser, has always urged Charlie to use his art to turn a profit. At the novel's end, Charlie has managed to set his own course.

Synopsis

Humboldt's Gift is a novel by Saul Bellow that tells of the balance of art and power in an ever-increasingly materialistic America.  The tale is shown through a semi-autobiographical account of Bellow's friendship with a poet, Delmore Schwartz. Humboldt's Gift won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and contributed to Bellow's winning the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year.

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Details

Seller
Raptis Rare Books US (US)
Seller's Inventory #
1289
Title
Humboldt’s Gift.
Author
Bellow, Saul
Book Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Publisher
The Viking Press
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1975

Terms of Sale

Raptis Rare Books

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed.

About the Seller

Raptis Rare Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2012
Palm Beach, Florida

About Raptis Rare Books

Founded by Matthew and Adrienne Raptis, Raptis Rare Books is an antiquarian book firm that specializes in literature, children's books, economics, photo books, signed and inscribed books, and landmark books in all fields. Our business model is simple: we strive to handle books that are in exceptional condition and to provide exceptional customer service.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Inscribed
When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Association Copy
An association copy is a copy of a book which has been signed and inscribed by the author for a personal friend, colleague, or...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Octavo
Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...

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