MISS LONELYHEARTS by West, Nathanael - 1933

New York: Liveright Inc., 1933. Medium brown cloth, lettered in silver. Cloth somewhat soiled and spotted around the lower edges and much of the spine, some occasional foxing and mild spotting; just a sound, tight copy, clothed in a facsimile dust jacket by a former owner. First edition, first printing, of the author's second novel. Only 800 copies of the initial printing of slightly in excess of 2000 copies had been released to the publisher by the printer when the Liveright firm went bankrupt. Publication was taken over by Harcourt, and the second and third issues from the first edition plates appeared under the imprint of Harcourt, and later, under the imprint of Greenberg. In point of fact, apart from the deluxe signed issue of THE DREAM LIFE OF BALSO SNELL, the primary form of this novel is West's scarcest published book. This is an interesting association, inscribed by West on the front free endsheet utilizing the nickname he used among friends: "For Bob Brown affectionately Pep West." The recipient was almost certainly novelist, poet, hack and miscellaneous writer Robert Carlton Brown, who had just returned to the US after his stint in Paris and unsuccessful effort to gain public interest in his Reading Machine. Brown was among the several distinguished contributors who wrote essays in praise ("Go West, Young Writer") of the novel for publication in the special issue of CONTEMPO published in July of 1933. West's prior acquaintance with and confidence in Brown is underlined by the fact that West had suggested Brown to CONTEMPO's editor as one of several potential contributors to the issue. MODERN MOVEMENT 76. WHITE 3.