"MAYBE THE WHOLE WORLD HELD TOGETHER ONLY WHEN YOU KEPT YOUR ATTENTION CENTERED ON IT AND BELIEVED IN IT": FIRST EDITION OF HEINLEIN'S THE UNPLEASANT PROFESSION OF JONATHAN HOAG

HEINLEIN, Robert A. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag. Hicksville, New York: Gnome, (1959). Octavo, original gray cloth, uncut, original dust jacket. $850.

First edition of this Heinlein collection comprising a novella and five stories, in original dust jacket.

"An early, and very dark, example of urban fantasy" (William H. Stoddard), the titular novella stands out from Heinlein's other work with its genre-defying blend of science fiction, fantasy, horror and detective noir. The accompanying stories are: "The Man Who Travelled in Elephants," "All You Zombies" (basis for the 2014 film Predestination, starring Ethan Hawke), "They," "Our Fairy City" and "—And He Built a Crooked House." The first edition of the novella, "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag," was published under the pseudonym John Riverside in the October 1942 issue of Unknown Worlds.

Book with the usual toning to contents, in a lightly worn dust jacket. A near-fine copy.