Black Valley SIGNED Galley Proofs Raymond WEAVER 1926 Japan Novel

Title: Black Valley

Author: Raymond Weaver

Description: The author's galley proofs, bound in red cloth with hand-lettered paper spine label. Inscribed presentation noting "This edition of Black Valley / consists of one copy of which this, / signed by the author / and numbered / is presented to / Bobb Howard / No 1. / Raymond Weaver". Title page is lettered and bordered by hand in black ink, with a chop mark stamped in red. Limitation & inscription hand-lettered on verso of title page; author's monogram hand-drawn on flyleaf (inked over a pencil sketch). Spine label a bit chipped, some fading to covers. [iv], 9-310 pages with text printed on rectos. 7 x 5.75 inches.

Raymond Weaver (1888-1948) was an authority on Herman Melville and a leading figure in the Melville revival of the 1920s. In 1919, Weaver discovered Melville's manuscript for "Billy Budd" and had it published in 1924. He taught at Columbia University between 1916 and 1948. Joseph Campbell, Lionel Trilling, Robert Giroux, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg are a few of his students that have acclaimed his influence.

Black Valley was Weaver's only novel, published by Viking at the beginning of January, 1926. In the summer of 1925, Weaver isolated himself on an island off of the coast of Maine to complete his re-draft of the novel. The novel is set in Japan and concerns characters in an American missionary colony. It presents a less than flattering picture of the missionaries' affairs, pride and prejudices. Weaver himself had lived in Japan for three years, teaching at high schools in Hiroshima, prior entering his graduate studies at Columbia.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: None

Publisher: [Viking]
Place: New York
Year: 1926

Keywords: presentation copy, one of one, Japan, novel, fiction,