“BOXING IS AN UNNATURAL ACT…”

TOOLE, F.X. Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner. New York: Ecco-HarperCollins, (2000). Octavo, original half rose cloth, original dust jacket. $400.

First edition of this short story collection, which includes “Million $$$ Baby.”

The late Toole, whose real name was Jerry Boyd, "wrote between gigs tending boxers in their corners as a 'cut man' (who stanches the blood flow and allows fights to continue), finally got a story published by a small literary magazine, was spotted by a keen-eyed agent and achieved book publication [at age 69]… His knowledge of the bizarre world of professional boxing is encyclopedic and utterly persuasive, his prose is as tight as a well-laced pair of gloves and his protagonists, in this collection of five stories and a novella, are mythically heroic (and occasionally evil) but convincing archetypes… 'Million $$$ Baby' is arguably the best story in the book" (Publishers Weekly), and was brought to the screen by director Clint Eastwood in 2004 as the multiple Academy Award-winning film Million Dollar Baby.

Book fine and without often-found remainder mark, dust jacket very nearly fine with minor abrasions to back panel.