PROUD FLESH Hardcover - 1973

New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 330 pages. The author's third novel. One of William Humphrey's finest - and most underrated - achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents William Humphrey's "Proud Flesh". His finest novel since his breakthrough, "Home From The Hill" (1958) , established his reputation as one of the true heirs to Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and the Southern literary tradition. Like its predecessor, the novel is the story of the "Old Rich" Renshaw clan, vestigial elite-members of the aristocratic Old South. In inexorable Greek-tragic fashion, the family is fated to end in complete destruction, precipitated by the decline then death of its matriarch, and accelerated by her feckless brood because of the moral corruption at their core. "I am a destroyer of myths. My whole work has shown the danger and false-ness of myths, especially the myth of The South" (William Humphrey) . Disdainful of the new era of American media, with its fixation on celebrity, entertainment, and voyeurism, William Humphrey paid the price for his withdrawal and rejection (in a way that Cormac McCarthy did for a long time) by being largely ignored. Were it not for the authentic quality of his work - he was a workaholic - he would have been forgotten altogether. His permanent place in American literature is secure. An absolute "must-have" title for William Humphrey collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the front free endpaper by William Humphrey. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. It is the single most beautiful signed copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws, are in multiple subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. . ISBN 0394466373.