WARMLY INSCRIBED BY IRVING WALLACE TO HIS AGENT

WALLACE, Irving. The Fan Club. New York: Simon and Schuster, (1974). Octavo, original black cloth gilt, original dust jacket. $450.

First edition, association/presentation copy, of Wallace’s chilling novel of fame and obsession, warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication to Paul Gitlin, his literary agent, “For Paul—to our continuing friendship—Best to you—Irving Wallace, April 11, 1974, N.Y.C.”

Sparked by a radio announcer's description of Elizabeth Taylor as "the still reigning sex symbol of the cinema and the leading glamour actress in the world" and further inspired by his own meeting, decades earlier, with Marilyn Monroe, Wallace crafted this thriller, originally to be entitled The Fantasy Caper and The Wish. Leverance & Grogg, 174-77. The recipient of this copy was celebrated lawyer and literary agent Paul Gitlin. "Gitlin came to prominence by negotiating innovative deals in the 1960s and early 1970s, when literary auctions were a relatively new phenomenon and authors' lawyers and agents were becoming stars in their own right. Gruff and charming, Gitlin was credited by one client, the novelist Irving Wallace, with winning the author a $2.3 million, four-book contract in 1972" (New York Times).

Bright dust jacket with slightest toning to flaps, tiny closed tear to spine. An about-fine inscribed association/presentation copy with notable provenance.