Books

The rare page proofs for Salinger's third book, untraced institutionally. A pencil annotation on the front wrapper notes that these proofs are from the library of John E. Woodman, Salinger's editor at Little, Brown and Company. The two stories were originally published in the New Yorker - "Franny" in 1955, "Zooey" in 1957 - but Salinger was reluctant to rush them between hard covers. Despite being "much mused on in the quarterlies", by 1959 "the text could not be purchased in bookstores, and the New Yorker had long ago exhausted its stock of back issues" (Hamilton, p. 166). The deficit eventually prompted the present book publication, for which Salinger made some light stylistic changes. The author took a particular interest in the book's mise-en-page: in an unpublished letter, he complains that the running head reads "Franny and Zooey" throughout, rather than separate heads for the two stories. "I really can't see, at all, why an appropriate running head for a short story need appear to be anything except what it is... but I gather you all feel that those single short titles drags the page badly or unnicely." Pre-publication material for Salinger's few published works is rare. Proof copies of Franny and Zooey are absent from the author's major collections at Princeton, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library; the Harry Ransom Centre holds only the galley proofs. Tall octavo, 204 leaves, text printed on rectos only. Bound in original cream wrappers, printed paper label to front wrap, black silk tie. Wrappers creased, a few corners folded, overall well-preserved. Ian Hamilton, In Search of J. D. Salinger, 1988.

Franny and Zooey is a book by American author J.D. Salinger which comprises his short story 'Franny' and novella 'Zooey'. The two works were published together as a book in 1961, but 'Franny' came out in The New Yorker in 1955, and 'Zooey' in 1957. The book revolves around the Glass family, particularly Franny and Zooey Glass, two of the youngest members of the family. These works delve into issues of existentialism, spirituality, and the quest for authenticity.