Salinger, Jerome David (1951) ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, US first edition in first state dust jacket

Jerome David Salinger (1951) ‘The Catcher in the Rye‘, US first edition, first printing, published by Little, Brown and Company. First issue dust jacket fullfilling all three first issue points: 1) Salinger’s photograph appearing slightly cropped on the rear panel; 2) the photograph portrait is credited to Lotte Jacobi; and 3) the $ and ‘3’ of the price is positioned directly above the shoulder of the ‘R’.

Condition: a fine copy or very close to fine for the harshest of judges. There are no previous owners’ inscriptions, no stamps, no bookplates. No bumps to the boards, no lean. The lettering on the spine is NOT rubbed out and vibrant. Very little rubbing to boards bottom edges from sliding in and out of the shelf. A whiff of faint foxing on the page block. Endpapers clean. The dust jacket is in amazing condition and one of the best we have ever seen in many years. Crucially, this is in the original state with NO restorations whatsover. It is not price clipped, is extremely clean with close to no wear. No tears, no chips, just tiny flaking of colour to the very edges as shown. Slight rubbing to rear fold.

‘The Catcher in the Rye’ needs no introduction. Being read in schools, it is one of the landmark novels of 20th century American fiction with global sales exceeding one million copies anually. It has defined and captured the timeless mood of teenage existential angst and that is why the novel has retained its fascination to young readers around the globe.