A SPORT AND A PASTIME

James Salter. Published by Paris Review Editions / Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1967. First Edition, first printing. Hardbound in blind stamped royal blue cloth covers with black cloth spine titled in gilt, 8.5" x 5.5", blue endpapers, 191 pages. VERY GOOD Condition book with former owner's name written in slightly smeared green crayon on the ffep, a touch of gilt loss on the spine border, overall tight, bright, clean and unmarked. In a GOOD dustjacket that is frayed at its spine ends, has a 1 inch closed tear to the top rear spine fold, is worn at the corner tips, creased with some small chips and closed tears along the top edge, and just lightly so along the bottom edge, spine lightly sunned, and has a touch of green crayon offsetting on the front fold, otherwise bright and doing its job well. The dustjacket has its original $4.50 price at the top of the front fold.

A masterpiece of erotic literature that was scandalous despite its publication during the sexual revolution. A sexually uninhibited novel about the erotically charged love affair between a young American Yale dropout, Phillip Dean, and a French shopgirl, Anne-Marie, in 1960s France, told through the lens of an unreliable, voyeuristic narrator who seems to fantasize and imagine much of the story, blurring the lines between reality and dream. The book is celebrated for its lyrical prose, frank depiction of sexual desire, and exploration of the sensual and the spiritual, establishing Salter as a major American stylist.