NEMESIS

New York City, NY: Houghton And Mifflin, 2010. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Houghton And Mifflin, 2010. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 285 pages. The author's twenty-seventh and final novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. Advance Promotional Copy. Publisher's Note laid-in. 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 Philip Roth's "Nemesis". The fourth and final title in Philip Roth's so-called "Nemeses" cycle of short novels, which includes "Everyman" (2006), "Indignation" (2008), and "The Humbling" (2009). "As exceptional as those novels are, this latest in the Series far exceeds its predecessors in both emotion and intellect. The novel is a staggering visit to a time and place when a monumental health crisis dominated the way people led their day-to-day lives. Newark has been hit by an epidemic of polio. At that time, how the disease spread and its cure were unknown. The city is in a panic, with residents so suspicious of other individuals and ethnic groups that emotions quickly escalate into hostility and rage. Our hero, and he proves truly heroic, is Bucky Cantor, playground director in the Jewish neighborhood. As the summer progresses, Bucky sees more and more of his teenage charges succumb to the disease. When an opportunity presents itself to leave the city for work in a Catskills summer camp, Bucky is torn between personal safety and personal duty. What happens is heart-breaking, but the joy of having met Bucky redeems any residual sadness" (Brad Hooper). An absolute "must-have" title for Philip Roth collectors. This is an Advance Promotional Copy. The Publisher's Note (to that effect) is laid-in. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Philip Roth. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed Promotional Copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Six of Philip Roth's novels were selected as among the Top 20 works of American fiction of the last 25 years: "American Pastoral", "The Counterlife", "Operation Shylock", "Sabbath's Theater", "The Human Stain", and "The Plot Against America". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PHILIP ROTH TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0547318359.