LIGHTS IN THE VALLEY.
New York: Harbinger House, (1942). First edition. Poetry collection from the "King of Greenwich Village Bohemians" who descended into dereliction after making a name for himself in the 1920s and '30s (Wikipedia). ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED, "To [William] Saroyan/ A poet to another poet/ --- is there/ any difference?/ Maxwell Bodenheim." In August 1942, Saroyan hired a down-on-his-luck Bodenheim to play himself in his one-act play, "Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning," at the Belasco Theater in New York. Bodenheim's task was to interrupt the show and recite his own poetry. "Bill's promotion of street characters to stage roles took a disturbing turn with the entrance of [Bodenheim]. For decades the quintessential Greenwich Village Bohemian, but now a ravaging piece of human wreckage, [on opening night his] ad-libbed poetry only made the audience more fidgety, and those who tried to escape ... were greeted by a wall of rain." (Lawrence Lee & Barry Gifford, Saroyan: A Biography, 1998). Spine mellowed but otherwise crisp and fine in very good to near fine dust jacket with spine and edges tanned but no other signs of wear. A scarce book, scarcer still in dust jacket, and verging on rare signed (much less an interesting association copy such as this one).
Item #55982
Price: $350.00