Between the Covers

Unbound. Manuscript. Loose quarto sheets printed with black and blue mimeograph ink. 513pp, and 172pp., plus a two-page list of characters and two copies of an excised chapter. A bit of wear to the corner of the first dozen sheets, near fine. *Hart Cooper* is the unpublished "spiritual autobiography" written by Thackara, a Los Angeles-based author, in 1971, more than a decade before the publication of his first book in 1984, *America's Children*. According to the author, *Hart Cooper* was particularly important in "creating the trans-national mythology" later incorporated into his controversial 1999 novel, *The Book of Kings*, which is considered, depending on the reviewer, a masterpiece of Western literature or else one of the worst novels ever published. This copy of the manuscript comes from the library of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Peter Taylor, whom Thackara met while attending Harvard. Taylor became a mentor to Thackara and the two remained friends until Taylor's death in 1994. An influential unpublished first novel from this highly controversial writer.

Item #374472