The Southpaw

Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. Very Good. (c.1953). First Edition. Hardcover. (lacking the original dust jacket, but encased in a professionally-made facsimile reproduction of same; see 2nd image posted with this listing) [good sound copy, modestly shelfworn with minor bumping to bottom corners; agency stamps on front and rear pastedowns (Ad Schulberg) and on front endpaper, half-title page and title page (H.N. Swanson, Inc.) (see Notes)]. The opening installment in Harris's "Henry Wiggen" tetralogy of baseball novels, all narrated by "Wiggen" (who in this instance is even credited as the author on the title page) in a semi-literate vernacular that put the character directly in a line of descent from Ring Lardner's "Jack Keefe." The next book, "Bang the Drum Slowly" (1956) is the best-known of the four, not only for the commercial success of the book itself but also because of its emotionally moving 1973 film adaptation. This one never made it to the screen, but it wasn't for lack of trying, as evinced by the agency stamps in this copy: the first is that of the N.Y.-based Ad Schulberg (sister of novelist Budd), but the more prominent and important are those of H.N. Swanson, whose Hollywood-based agency provided perhaps the most successful book-to-movie conduit from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. The presence of multiple Swanson stamps in this copy indicates that it was one that was "shopped around" to the Hollywood studios, albeit in this instance without success. NOTE again that this book bears a FACSIMILE dust jacket, to serve the dual purpose of protecting the book from further wear and enhancing its appearance on the shelf; its presence has not been factored in to our pricing. .