The Brave Cowboy

Salt Lake City/Santa Barbara: Dream Garden/Santa Teresa. 1993. A presentation copy of the reissue of Abbey's second book, one of the great novels of the contemporary West, and long out of print in hardcover. This edition has an introduction by Kirk Douglas, who starred in the film version, Lonely Are the Brave. Illustrated with stills from the movie and with a frontispiece illustration of Douglas. Of a total edition of 526 copies, this is a presentation copy, as noted on the colophon, and is signed by Kirk Douglas and with a lengthy and humorous inscription (truncated) by the publisher. In the course of making a film from the novel, Abbey and Douglas corresponded, and they later met as friends: Douglas said the book "latched onto my soul" when he first read it; and Abbey, in a preface to the 1971 edition, thanked "the little band of loyal fans, including the actor Kirk Douglas, who have somehow kept [the book] alive through all these years..." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Hardcover. Fine. (Inventory #: 028377)