Between the Covers

Hardcover. A collection of 23 works by John Gardner and associated items from the collection of his close friend and literary executor, the author Nicholas Delbanco. Gardner and acclaimed novelist and critic Delbanco first forged a friendship when Delbanco hosted Gardner during a reading tour at Bennington College in 1974. Delbanco ended up hiring Gardner for the English Department at the College. They and their families began a close professional and personal relationship in which each of the authors strove to critique the other's works in private and promote them in public, Gardner touting Delbanco as "one of the country's best novelists." Each acknowledged the contribution of the other in developing both their theories of literature and for specific elements of their respective works, whether it be Delbanco using Gardner's title *Stillness* for one of his novels or Gardner using Delbanco's writing to help clarify the husband-wife relationship in one of his own works. Delbanco's home and family became a refuge for both Gardner and his first wife during their messy divorce. Following Gardner's death in a 1982 motorcycle accident, Delbanco became Gardner's literary executor; editing and contributing an introduction to Gardner's posthumously published *Stillness and Shadows*. Delbanco's daughter Francesca, to whom the copy of *The King of Hummingbirds* is dedicated and some of the other books are inscribed (and who was formerly an occasional babysitting charge of Gardner's children), has herself published two well-received novels, *Ask Me Anything* and *Midnight in Manhattan*. A wonderful collection of interesting association copies that help detail an important literary friendship. Further details available upon request.

Item #274382