WHEAT THAT SPRINGETH GREEN; [Inscribed association copy]

New York: Knopf, 1988. First edition of his final novel. The story of Joe Hackett who "enters the priesthood in the brash hope of becoming a saint of the contemplative sort ... [but instead] ... becomes something of an alcoholic, with a suburban parish" (from the jacket flap). INSCRIBED BY POWERS on front endpaper, "Dear Walter Sullivan:/ - I am reading your/ Allen Tate with great/ but still growing ad-/ miration - it could/ only be longer, I think,/ not better, truer./ - Jim Powers." Beneath which Powers has written, "P.S. See corrections on pp. 10 and 322," and then hand-corrected "water" to "bread," p.10:5, and "Cocaigne" to "Cockaigne," p.322:11. (In his inscription, Powers is referring to ALLEN TATE: A RECOLLECTION by Sullivan published that same year by Louisiana State University Press.) REVIEW COPY with publisher's review slip and promotional post card laid in -- along with "J. F. Powers and His Priestly Company," Sullivan's 3-page review of WHEAT THAT SPRINGETH GREEN for the Fall, 1990, issue of Sewanee Review (signed by him on first page). Walter Sullivan (1924-2006) was an author, critic, longtime Vanderbilt University professor, authority on Southern literature and one of the founding members of The Fellowship of Southern Writers. 8vo silver-stamped gray cloth-backed gray paper boards; 335 pages. Fine in near fine dust jacket with spine mildly toned and one small tear to upper edge front panel.