JEALOUSY: A NOVEL - ONE OF 4 HORS COMMERCE COPIES, SIGNED, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY THE TRANSLATOR

New York: Grove Press, Inc, 1959. First American Edition. The most limited state of Robbe-Grillet's fourth novel, first published as La Jalousie by Éditions de Minuit in 1957. Set on a banana plantation in a foreign country, the novel is centered around the unnamed narrator, his wife (referred to only as A), and their neighbors, Franck and his wife. The narrator suspects A is being unfaithful with Franck, but rather than culminating in a jealous outburst, he primarily (obsessively) reviews and reports; the infidelity is never confirmed or denied. The novel was a critical success but a poor seller in France, selling fewer than 1,000 copies. It ultimately found literary success in the U.S., as well as a much larger audience, after it was translated into English by Richard Howard, who was also responsible for translating The Voyeur for Grove in 1958. An important copy, showing significant interaction with the text. Deluxe Issue, one of 4 hors commerce copies specially bound and signed by the author, this being copy no.3. Octavo (21cm); beige paper-covered boards and brown cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; [x],149,[3]pp. This was Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and translator Richard Howard's copy, with his holograph annotations, corrections, and marginalia appearing on 26-pages throughout the text. Gentle sunning to spine, modest hand-soil to boards, faint finger-soil to right edge of textblock, with some offsetting and a few light stains to front endpaper; Very Good+.