New York City Guide. A Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond. Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in New York City

New York: Random House, (1939).

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Hardcover. First edition, second printing without the supplementary chapter on the World's Fair and with an alternate map. Quarter gray cloth and papercovered boards in blue jacket, and with the folding map of New York in a pocket in the rear, as issued. Spotting at the spine, thus good in fair only dustwrapper with the front flap lacking. A decent copy of the WPA guide compiled by the Federal Writers' Project. John Cheever was an editorial assistant on the book and Richard Wright was among the contributors.

Item #342262

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Item #342262 New York City Guide. A Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond. Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in New York City. John CHEEVER.

John Cheever
birth name: John Cheever
born: 5/27/1912
died: 6/18/1982
nationality: USA

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Biography

American short-story writer and novelist whose work described, often through fantasy and ironic comedy, the life, manners, and morals of middle-class, suburban America. He is noted for his clear and elegant prose and his careful fashioning of incidents and anecdotes.more

Collecting tips:

Cheever is a wonderful short story writer, and his Wapshot novels are excellent, but he seems to have fallen out of favor of late (which by the way, isn't necessarily a bad thing if you are looking to collect an author's books). He was apparently not enamored of his first book, a collection of stories The Way Some People Live (1943) and he didn't allow it to be reprinted -- conveniently, at that time, anyway, no one wanted to reprint it. Printed in relatively small numbers during wartime, pretty much insured that fine copies would not grow on trees, and they don't. Cheever's family objected to some elements of the planned publication of The Uncollected Stories of John Cheever 1930-1981 and publication was suppressed. The uncorrected proof was the only complete version that saw the light of day, and commands a premium.

Email us to request a printed copy of our catalog of John Cheever Rare Books and First Editions (or download it via the link as a 3.12 MB pdf file).

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