The Merry Month of May

New York: Delacorte Press, 1971. Galley Proof. Original Wraps. Very Good/No Jacket. Uncommon format. 11-inch tall ring-bound galley proofs, generally produced in this format for in-house use and early press publicity. The mustard-colored wrappers have light soiling, slight wrinkling near the binder head and mild foxing to fore-edges (see photos) but otherwise in very good shape. Interesting and amusing disclaimer on the first page from Crane Duplication Service, on Cape Cod. From the author of From Here To Eternity and The Thin Red Line.

The Merry Month Of May is author James Jones's 1971 novel concerning the events of the 1968 student revolutions in Paris. It is centered on a rich American family, the Gallaghers, living as expatriates in Paris. The real subject of the novel is the sexual revolution and sexual maladjustment of Americans.

Reviews of the book were typically uneven, though never in Jones's career would the gulf between the most favorable and the least favorable reviews be so wide. At one pole were reviewers who claimed Merry Month was Jones's best novel since From Here To Eternity, while at the other pole were reviewers who claimed that Merry Month was such a bad novel that it should never have been published. - Wikipedia