Williwaw.

VIDAL, Gore.

$2,000.00

Item Number: 125772

New York: Dutton, 1946.

First edition of the author’s first book. Octavo, original black cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “For Owen Roberts, very best wishes — Gore Vidal, 1946.” The recipient, Owen Roberts was the father of Katherine “Kit” Vidal, second wife of Eugene Vidal, Gore’s father. He was a multimillionaire, who bought — and sold — a seat twice on the New York Stock Exchange, before devoting himself to collecting Chinese art and antiquities. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. An exceptional association.

Williwaw was Gore Vidal's first publication, and it earned him the reputation as "the best all-around American man of letters since Edmund Wilson"(Newsweek). The military novel marked the beginning of his writing career, aged twenty-one, and is based upon his Alaskan Harbor Detachment duty. Williwaw is a quasi-autobiographical novel, and its value comprises not merely Vidal's excellent writing but the insight it offers into the author's experiences.