"THE BASTARD, THE DIRTY BASTARD"

O'HARA, John. Files on Parade. New York: Harcourt, Brace, (1939). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. $600.

First edition, first state of this early collection of short stories by an acknowledged master of the genre.

"When Files on Parade was published in 1939… it collected thirty-five stories, some of O'Hara's most affecting and daring work. Edmund Wilson was particularly enthusiastic about 'Price's Always Open' (1935), a study of a townie from a summer resort striving to rise socially" (Wolff, The Art of Burning Bridges, 225), dramatizing the conflict between social outsider and ossified social hierarchy, a dominant theme in this collection (indeed in all of O'Hara's writings). Other notable stories include "Do You Like It Here, "Olive," "Price's Always Open," "Are We Leaving Tomorrow?" and "Trouble in 1949." First state, with the Foreword leaf tipped in. Bruccoli A6.1.a1.

Only very minor wear to dust jacket spine head. A very nearly fine copy.