Click for full-size.
Midnight Cowboy
by Herlihy, James Leo
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- Seller
-
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Simon and Schuster [1965], 1965. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo. [12], 13-253, [3] pp. Blue cloth with gold lettering on the spine; light green topstain. Price of $4.95 on the front flap of the dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. The basis for the 1969 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight; the film would become the winner of several Academy Awards in 1970. Toning to the front gutter, light foxing to the top textblock; two creases to the jacket's front flap and a small discoloration to the rear flap.
Synopsis
In some ways, it was unfortunate for author James Leo Herlihy that his novel Midnight Cowboy was adapted into the landmark film of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. Although the film, which won several Oscars including Best Picture, certainly brought the rising author a new level of regard and notice, its almost legendary status in the history of American filmmaking has somewhat overshadowed its literary progenitor. This is especially unfortunate since Herlihy's work is considered by many to be one of the best American novels published since World War II. The novel's protagonist is Joe Buck, a naive young Texan who decides to leave his dead-end job and find a grander, more glamorous life in New York City. The city, of course, turns out to be a much harder place to conquer than Joe expected, and he soon finds his dream compromised. Buck's fall from innocence and his relationship with the crippled street hustler Ratso Rizzo form the novel's emotional nucleus, and the unlikely pair is one of the most sensitively-drawn and complex portraits of friendship in recent literature.The focus on male friendship is in fact a longstanding motif in American literature: Twain's Huck and Jim, Melville's Ishmael and Queequeg, Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, and Kerouac's Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity are some of the notable examples. Herlihy's Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo continue this venerable tradition in their unique, starkly-drawn fashion. Midnight Cowboy also takes a well-deserved place among a group of distinguished American novels that write-often with unnerving candor-about people living on the "margins" of society: Nathaniel West's Miss Lonleyhearts, John Fante's Ask the Dust, Kerouac's On the Road, and William Burroughs' Junky, to name a few. Midnight Cowboy, written by Herlihy with a unique mixture of severe realism and sensitivity, may well prove to be the best and most durable of these accomplished works of fiction.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Evening Star Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 000013177
- Title
- Midnight Cowboy
- Author
- Herlihy, James Leo
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster [1965]
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1965
Terms of Sale
Evening Star Books
All items subject to prior sale.� Certain items and shipping to certain countries may exceed the standard shipping amounts.� Any shipping expenses incurred above the standard rate will be billed at cost. Payment is in US dollars.� Personal checks must clear prior to shipment (please allow 10 days).� Books may be returned within 15 calendar days of delivery for any reason, so long as we are notified of return within 10 days of delivery.� Return items must be well packaged and fully insured and must be returned in same condition as sold. Any book described as a First Edition is also a First Printing unless otherwise indicated.
About the Seller
Evening Star Books
Biblio member since 2007
Madison, Wisconsin
About Evening Star Books
We buy and sell rare and fine books in many fields. Our interests include philosophy, modern first editions, and works of historical or intellectual interest. In addition to bookselling, we regularly do valuations and appraisals for non-IRS purposes. Evening Star Books is a Limited Liability Company.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Gutter
- The inside margin of a book, connecting the pages to the joints near the binding.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
Uncommonly Good Books Sold in 2019
Read about some of the most interesting books and ephemera that were sold through Biblio in 2019 and browse the gallery of highlights.
Collecting and identifying signed letters and holographic documents
Many authors and other famous literary figures wrote and signed letters by hand, and you can find a great collection of them in the Biblio rare book room. See our great collection of handwritten letters and holographic documents
