The Most Agreeable Vice.

[Los Angeles: Designed and Printed by Ward Ritchie for Jake Zeitlin, 1938 Unnumbered copy in an edition size of 500. This Aldous Huxley essay mentions Jake Zeitlin by name and was printed by Ward Ritchie, a close friend and colleague of Zeitlin, for the grand opening of Zeitlin's Carondelet Street book shop in 1938. For nearly sixty years after its printing, the item remained extremely rare despite its relatively large edition size. Zeitlin explained that handfuls of copies of the piece were stolen from his opening party and completely disappeared. The mystery remained unsolved for the remainder of Zeitlin's lifetime, and for nearly a decade after, until (truncated) 1996 when the missing copies of "The Most Agreeable Vice" were found in Ritchie's collection after his death. Zeitlin suspected all along that Ritchie had taken the items because he had owed Ritchie money and, as it turned out, Zeitlin was right. . Cream-colored handmade paper, self-wrapped and stapled. . 3.75 x 5.25 in. . Very minor toning. A near fine copy of a fragile, scarce item. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) authored over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction as well as collections of poetry and essays, and was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous book, Brave New World (1932), remains a popular classic of dystopian literature and speculative fiction. For 25 years, Huxley lived in Los Angeles, where he became a personal friend of Jake Zeitlin and could often be found buying books at Zeitlin's shop. (Inventory #: 17820)