NORTHERN LIGHTS by O'BRIEN, Tim - 1975

New York: Delacorte. 1975. First printing. Hardcover. Black cloth and mauve boards, mauve endpapers. Large Sept., 1975, ink owner inscription, and a small area crossed out with black felt tip pen, on the front pastedown (almost entirely hidden by the jacket flap); foxing to page edges; small ding to lower edge of front board and soft shallow groove across bottom page edges; two very light soil spots in rear board; tiny corner crease to three leaves; else a VG copy. Dust jacket has a nick and small rubbed spot at head of spine; small rubbed spot to upper outer corner; near fine otherwise, colours bright, flap price intact. Despite the defects, they are not immediately obvious and the copy presents well. The author's cheaply made (perfect bound) second book and first novel, about a Vietnam vet and his brother trapped by a blizzard in the Arrowhead country of Minnesota, "a brilliant investigation into the nature of courage". A cheaply made book (perfect bound) printed in a small edition of 5K copies, it is scarce today in first printing. O'Brien's first book was an accalimed memoir of his experiences as a soldier in Viet Nam. His second novel, GOING AFTER CACCIATO (1978) won a National Book Award. His 1990 collection of stories,THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, is for my money - and in the opinion of many others - the greatest piece of creative writing about the Vietnam War and is certainly amongst the most moving. O'Brien is a very fine writer. .