First hardcover edition thus of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s first novel, published circa 1963 by Farrar, Staus, and Company. Publisher's black cloth stamped in silver, in the uncommon dust jacket reprising the design of the 1955 Noonday first American edition but bearing the Farrar, Straus & Company imprint and later $4.95 price. Copyright page retains the statement, "First Noonday Paperbound Edition 1958." Inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Elaine and Morris with my greetings / I.B. Singer."
A transitional issue in the publication history of the novel that introduced Singer to an American audience. The true first edition in English was issued in hardcover by Noonday Press in 1955 with illustrations by Ira Moskowitz; a Noonday paperbound edition followed in 1958. The present copy appears to represent a little-recognized Farrar-Noonday hardcover reissue produced after Farrar Straus acquired Noonday in 1960, combining the 1958 text setting sans illustrations with a revised version of the iconic 1955 jacket design. Comparable examples are frequently misidentified as rebound paperbacks or first editions.
Slight lean to spine. Damp staining to bottom edge of front board, not affecting textblock. Dust jacket poor, with extensive damage and losses. Rubbing and chipping to dj, with open tears concentrating at front cover. Flaps intact but detached. Despite its condition, the surviving jacket establishes the issue beyond doubt. A signed and bibliographically intriguing Singer rarity from the years preceding his ascent to international prominence and, ultimately, the Nobel Prize.
First hardcover edition thus of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s first novel, published circa 1963 by Farrar, Staus, and Company. Publisher's black cloth stamped in silver, in the uncommon dust jacket reprising the design of the 1955 Noonday first American edition but bearing the Farrar, Straus & Company imprint and later $4.95 price. Copyright page retains the statement, "First Noonday Paperbound Edition 1958." Inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Elaine and Morris with my greetings / I.B. Singer."
A transitional issue in the publication history of the novel that introduced Singer to an American audience. The true first edition in English was issued in hardcover by Noonday Press in 1955 with illustrations by Ira Moskowitz; a Noonday paperbound edition followed in 1958. The present copy appears to represent a little-recognized Farrar-Noonday hardcover reissue produced after Farrar Straus acquired Noonday in 1960, combining the 1958 text setting sans illustrations with a revised version of the iconic 1955 jacket design. Comparable examples are frequently misidentified as rebound paperbacks or first editions.
Slight lean to spine. Damp staining to bottom edge of front board, not affecting textblock. Dust jacket poor, with extensive damage and losses. Rubbing and chipping to dj, with open tears concentrating at front cover. Flaps intact but detached. Despite its condition, the surviving jacket establishes the issue beyond doubt. A signed and bibliographically intriguing Singer rarity from the years preceding his ascent to international prominence and, ultimately, the Nobel Prize.
