The Victim

 BY Saul Bellow

Book Information: 1/1/0/US/VG/1947/?  •  ?  •  ?

I'm a fan of Saul bellow's prose, and have been trying to get the first editions of his first two, if less acclaim and recognized, novels. I was lucky, and was able to purchase this copy of The Victim at a very reasonable price. That may be a consequence of Bellow's faltering popularity, but that's no matter for a collector. This amazingly well preserved first edition was published by Vanguard in 1947, with still bright green-blue based dustjacket and almost no sunned spine that plague most existing copies. And the dust jacket was not price clipped. The book is also in pristine condition with a top blue stain still very bright. The only small regret is a pasted bookplate from a previous owner.

The Victim is not well read or analyzed today, but it did make it to one Pulitzer Jury's long list at number 8.

6 years after The Victim, Bellow would go on to publish The Adventure of Augie March that marked the beginning of an era of definitive Bellouwian style.