"WHEN IT CAME TO HAWKEYE PIERCE THERE WAS A GREAT DIVERGENCE OF OPINION": FIRST EDITION OF MASH

HOOKER, Richard [i.e., HORNBERGER, H. Richard and HEINZ, W.C.]. MASH. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1968. Octavo, original brown and white cloth, original dust jacket. $1250.

First edition of this comedic account of surgery and shenanigans during the Korean War, the basis for Robert Altman’s acclaimed film and the subsequent, phenomenally popular television series.

Dr. H. Richard Hornberger, collaborating with celebrated sports journalist W.C. Heinz, published this fictionalized account of Hornberger's service at the 8055 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea under the pseudonym "Richard Hooker." "Hornberger… always stressed that his book was fiction intended to tell the larger truths of war. He once said that those in his unit, like most soldiers, were simply too young for their awful jobs. 'A few flipped their lids, but most just raised hell in a variety of ways and degrees" (New York Times). Thanks to Robert Altman's critically praised 1970 film adaptation (Ring Lardner, Jr.'s screenplay won him an Academy Award) and even more to the 1972-83 television series starring Alan Alda, the eccentric characters of the 4077th—including Radar O'Reilly, Trapper John, "Hot-Lips" Houlihan and Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce—remain American popular cultural icons.

A bright fine copy.