Beschreibung:

MALAMUD, BERNARD Important group of ten presentation copies of Malamud works inscribed to Paul and Suzanne Schrag. The lot containing 10 inscribed volumes and two others listed below, each housed in a cloth box. Comprising: The Natural. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, [1952]. Stated first edition, inscribed in the year of publication "For Susie and Paul/Cordially/Bern/July 1952." Publisher's red cloth, in original dust jacket with price intact. The volume fine, the jacket with a few short edge tears and creases, the white portions clean; and each of the following bearing similar inscriptions, each a stated first printing in original dust jacket unless noted: The Assistant, 1957; A New Life, 1961, lacks jacket; Idiots First, 1963; The Fixer, 1966; Pictures of Fidelman, 1969; The Tenants, 1971; Rembrandt's Hat, 1973; God's Grace, 1982; and The Stories of Bernard Malamud, 1983, similarly inscribed, in jacket. Of these The Assistant with hinge cracked and faded spine; Pictures of Fidelman with offset from clipping to inscribed leaf; otherwise generally fine copies with minor wear to jackets. A fine collection of inscribed copies of nearly all the published works of Bernard Malamud, one of the most prolific of 20th Century American authors and recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Present here are ten major works by Malamud, including his classics The Natural, The Fixer and The Assistant, each inscribed to close friends Suzanne and Paul Schrag (brother of printmaker Karl Schrag . The Natural is rare at auction inscribed, as are most Malamud titles, and a collection such as this is certainly uncommon. The Natural, Malamud's first novel, is a baseball story considered one of the best of the genre and was made into an equally regarded film starring Robert Redford as slugger Roy Hobbs. Also present in the lot are a later printing of The Magic Barrel (without inscription) and a copy of a Bernard Malamud memorial volume, 1986, one of 150 copies signed by Cynthia Ozick, Daniel Stern, and Robert Giroux. For The Natural see Kosofsky A1. C Estate of Suzanne Schrag