Books

Two octavo volumes (25cm); photomechanically reproduced sheets (recto and verso), comb-bound into beige printed card wrappers, with publisher's typed label mounted to front cover of Vol.1, and titles printed in black on front cover of Vol.2. First half: [ii],306pp; Second half: 307-487,[1]pp. Light wear and handling; mild dustiness, a few small spots of soil, and several small tears to wrappers; brief editorial notation in pencil to lower front wrapper of Vol.1; contents clean; Very Good+. Accompanied by a long mimeographed synopsis of the novel on a single sheet of white stock (measuring 5.5" x 9.75"), which was once stapled to the preliminary leaf in Vol.1; one old fold smoothed out, some toning, small tears, and attendant creases along right margin, with staple holes to upper margin. All housed side-by-side in a custom clamshell case. Proof copy of Kesey's second novel, centered around a hard-headed logging family in a lumber town in coastal Oregon. Conflict ensues when they are brought in to cut trees for a local mill in opposition to striking union workers. Basis for Paul Newman's Oscar-nominated 1971 adaptation, starring Newman, Henry Fonda, and Lee Remick. The only pre-publication format of this novel we've seen, with none found in the auction record, no set of the proofs located in the finding aid of Kesey's papers at the University of Oregon.

Sometimes a Great Notion is Ken Kesey's second novel, describing the struggles of a family-owned logging company and the individualistic behaviors of the Stamper family set against their community.