Body [Inscribed to Pete Dexter]
New York: Poseidon Press, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover octavo in dust jacket. Cream paper-covered boards backed in black cloth with titles stamped in silver to spine. 240pp. First printing of the 1990 novel Car by esteemed American author Harry Crews (1935-2012), inscribed to fellow author Pete Dexter (b. 1947), who Crews held in especially high esteem. Both Crews and Dexter were known for their unflinching examinations of the dingier pockets of the American fabric, and Crews -- a man notoriously sparing in his praise -- makes his admiration here clear in a black pen inscription that blankets the enter title page:
"To Pete Dexter: I need my Pete Dexter fix. Write us another one, buddy, because there ain't anybody working in the country better than you are. All best and with great admiration, Harry Crews".
Crews would often gift novels from authors he admired to those close to him, and in a copy of Dexter's 1983 novel God's Pocket gifted to his lawyer, Huntley Johnson, Crews wrote "On every page, I did not think Dexter could top what he had done, and on every succeeding page, he did it.”
A delightfully intimate inscription from Crews, effusive in his scorn and praise both when he felt so called, to someone he felt a true peer. Very good condition. Stain to bottom edge of text block near spine does not affect text; gently curved 2" abrasion to top board; else clean within and out. Unclipped dust jacket mirrors the book's two defects, with discreet stain near bottom jacket and shadow of abrasion felt along front panel. Item #3965
Price: $500.00