The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.

WOLFE, Tom.

Item Number: 21062

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965.

First edition of the author’s first book that launched New Journalism. Octavo, original white cloth. Signed by Tom Wolfe on the half-title page. Additionally signed by Phil Spector, Junior Johnson and Jane Holzer on the front free endpaper. Each are subjects in the book, Phil Spector in “The First Tycoon of Teen”, Junior Johnson in “The Last American Hero” and Jane Holzer in “Girl of the Year.” Phil Spector is an American record producer, musician, and songwriter who developed the Wall of Sound, a music production formula he described as “a Wagnerian approach to rock and roll.” Considered the first auteur among musical artists, Spector acted not only as a producer, but also the creative director, writing or choosing the material and masterminding all phases of the recording process. He is acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in pop music history. The essay that many critics have considered the strongest is “The Last American Hero,” a profile of Junior Johnson, an early star of the stock car racing world and NASCAR. In looking at a single day at the races, Wolfe also examines the rise of the race day culture, how it is a stark contrast to the Grand Prix motor racing popular in Europe. The Last American Hero was made into a film in 1973, starring Jeff Bridges as Junior Johnson. Light rubbing, near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Rare signed by Wolfe, Spector, Johnson and Holzer.

The now famous "Kandy" memorandum enabled Wolfe to recognize that feature journalism--in particular, magazine writing--could achieve added depth and realism by fusing the stylistic features of fiction and the reportorial obligations of journalism to form a "novelistic-sounding"--but still factually constrained--literature. This discovery would impel a receptive Wolfe to further cross traditional journalistic boundaries once the strike was settled at the New York Herald Tribune and he returned to work as a feature writer. "An excellent work by a genius" (Kurt Vonnegut).