Appointment in Samarra (Facsimilie Copy of the 1934 True First Edition) AS NEW

New York: BOMC Book of the Month Club, Copyright Renewed 1961. Fascimilie Copy of the 1934 True First Edition. Hardcover. AS NEW/As New. Octavo, [23cm/8.25inches], full gilt-embossed ebony-coloured cloth w/ mylar-protected dust jacket, pp.301. Please feel free to inquire as to particulars and/or additional photographs. ... Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John O'Hara (1905–1970). The book created controversy due to O'Hara's inclusion of sexual content. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Appointment in Samarra 22nd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. ... The title is a reference to W. Somerset Maugham's retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian tale,[2] which appears as an epigraph for the novel:
A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Soon afterwards, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in the marketplace, he was jostled by a woman, whom he recognized as Death, who made a threatening gesture. Borrowing the merchant's horse, the servant flees at great speed to Samarra, a distance of about 75 miles (125 km), where he believes Death will not find him. The merchant then goes to the marketplace and finds Death, and asks why she made the threatening gesture to his servant. She replies, "That was not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight, in Samarra." In his foreword to the 1952 reprint, O'Hara says that the working title for the novel was The Infernal Grove. He got the idea for the title Appointment in Samarra when Dorothy Parker showed him the story in Maugham's play, Sheppey. He says "Dorothy didn't like the title; publisher Alfred Harcourt didn't like the title; his editors didn't like it; nobody liked it but me."