Call It Sleep
San Francisco: Arion Press, 1995. Limited Edition. Hardcover. No. 209 of 300 copies, quarto size, 430 pp., signed by Henry Roth, with prospectus. Fine. Item #22032202
Largely ignored when it first appeared in 1934, "Call It Sleep" was republished in 1964 to overwhelming acclaim and rose immediately to the top of the bestseller lists, selling over a million copies. Today it is universally recognized as a masterpiece of American fiction, and has been hailed by Alfred Kazin as "the most profound novel of Jewish life by an American". Although written in English, it mixes the language of the streets with the Yiddish of the home, while using Hebrew to convey mystic aspects of Judaism (n.b., above info from the Arion Press web site).
___DESCRIPTION: Quarter dark green goatskin stamped with light green lettering, boards covered in a gray/green cloth decorated with stylized brick walls and windows of a tenement, fore- and bottom edges uncut, signature and limitation statement precede the title page, title page in green and black, illustrated with forty-eight black-and-white photographs of the New York City in the period of the novel bound in throughout (reproduced using duotone offset lithography); Monotype Bulmer and handset Kabel Condensed types, German mouldmade Zerkall paper, quarto size (10.5" by 7.5"), pagination: (1)-429, colophon (430), this no. 209 of 300 numbered copies (plus 26 lettered copies). In publisher's slipcase covered with the same decorated fabric as the boards on the sides, plain on top and bottom. Prospectus loosely laid in, twelve pages with a stapled binding.
___CONDITION: Fine: the binding clean and without wear, perfectly straight corners with no rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; crisp and as new. The slipcase fine, strong and sturdy, clean with no markings or wear; prospectus also fine, clean and without wear.
___CITATION: Arion Press Catalogue no. 45.
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that due to the weight of this volume additional postage may apply; please inquire for details.
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Price: $600.00