• For Your Consideration:
• A 1955 FIRST EDITION in HARDCOVER of:
• “PARTY OF ONE: The Selected Writings”
(The World Publishing Co., 1955) (Hardcover, First Edition, First Printing)
• BY CLIFTON FADIMAN (1904-1999)
• Former Books Editor of THE NEW YORKER
• A Smart, Breezy Essayist in the Manner of: EDMUND WILSON, JOSEPH EPSTEIN, MICHAEL DIRDA, & ANNE FADIMAN
• “Often unheralded, but powerful and important… He taught people what was important about literature.”
—JACQUES BARZUN
• “It was long fashionable to deride CLIFTON FADIMAN as the quintessential middlebrow. But for me, and I suspect for many other people past forty, THE LIFETIME READING PLAN opened up the world of great literature . . . In essence, FADIMAN made classics sound as exhilarating as TARZAN or DR. FU MANCHU…. FADIMAN wasn’t an academic critic but rather an enthusiastic reader talking to other readers. When I became a literary journalist, I wanted to write in the same manner—playfully, without smugness or condescension, and as clearly as I could. Above all, FADIMAN was an enthusiast who championed the reading of all sorts of books, and so am I.”
—MICHAEL DIRDA
• “My father was every bit as witty, literate, and charming in person as he was on the page, but he was also more complicated. His insecurities and frustrations (except in a light, self-mocking form) never made it into his pages. They were very much a part of his life. Incidentally, he was a wonderful father.”
—ANNE FADIMAN
• “Unlike many men of letters, CLIFTON FADIMAN thought of himself primarily as a guide to the wisdom of others. But as a guide, FADIMAN had few equals: for over 60 years, the editor, essayist, anthologist, and broadcast personality led countless readers to myriad subjects.”
—COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (WEBSITE)
• “A Wordsmith Known for His Encyclopedic Knowledge.”
—NEW YORK TIMES (AUTHOR’S OBITUARY, 1999)
• “In his recent book of essays, which ranges genially over many subjects from cheeses to social disaster, CLIFTON FADIMAN once more uses the elastic, optimistic, civilized voice that has often disarmed our college-bred Americans…. MR. FADIMAN is of course always pleasantly bookish, and often shows excellent taste….”
—ISA KAPP, COMMENTARY (1958)
• “From the retrospective prefactory essay with which this book opens, through the final article titled ‘Some Passing Remarks on Some Passing Remarks,’ this is a richly rewardingly reading experience. Despite the author’s scholarship and the seriousness that lies back of his wit and charm, the tone of PARTY OF ONE is not in the conventional sense ‘literary.’ It is rather that of civilize conversation, a conversation of which the reader at once feels himself an interested part. Whether the subject is JUDY GARLAND or a SCHRAFFT’s waitress, the business of being an M.C., or the pleasure of being a fireworks-buff, MR. FADIMAN imparts an immediacy that takes you to the time and place. From a vigorous decade as book editor of THE NEW YORKER, his critical essays recall the tempo of the day they were written—the excitement, and the sometimes disappointment, of a new O’HARA novel or a FAULKNER. His brilliant prefaces to WAR AND PEACE, MOBY DICK, and PICKWICK will lure you back to the pleasures of these classics; his perspective portraits of his own special admirations—SINCLAIR LEWIS, E. B. WHITE, OGDEN NASH, ABNER DEAN, CHESTERTON, MADAME CURIE—merit the frame of permanence they now have…. CLIFTON FADIMAN was born in New York City in 1904, and graduated from Columbia University in 1925. In the half century just completed, MR. FADIMAN has been a translator, a teacher, an advisor to SAMUEL GOLDWYN, editor of Simon and Schuster, lecturer, and book review editor of THE NEW YORKER. During these years writing—and editing such books as READING I’VE LIKED, THE SHORT STORIES OF HENRY JAMES, and other books and anthologies—played a concurrent part, as this book gives evidence; and radio and TV chores grew into a memorable ten years as host of INFORMATION PLEASE, M.C. of THIS IS SHOW BUSINESS, and conductor of the popular NBC radio series CONVERSATION. MR. FADIMAN, a member of the Book-of-the-Month Club, an essayist for HOLDIAY magazine, keeps a busy schedule as a platform reader across the country.”
—THE PUBLISHER
• “FADIMAN’s resumé defies easy summary. He helped establish the Book-of-the-Month Club and served on its board for more than a half century. He was also a force in shaping ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, served as book editor of THE NEW YORKER, and moderated a game show, carried on radio and later TV, called INFORMATION, PLEASE, in which an erudite panel of commentators fielded questions from audience members, who would win a set of the BRITANNICA if they stumped the experts. Additionally, FADIMAN worked in book publishing, as a magazine columnist, anthologist, and familiar essayist, his musings gathered in charming collections such as PARTY OF ONE, ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY, and ENTER, CONVERSING.”
—DANNY HEITMAN, HUMANITIES MAGAZINE (2017)
•
• For other details about this book, please see below.
•
TITLE: “PARTY OF ONE: THE SELECTED WRITINGS OF CLIFTON FADIMAN”
AUTHOR: CLIFTON FADIMAN
TYPE: HARDCOVER
PAGES: 473
PUBLISHER, LOCALE, & YEAR: The World Publishing Co. (Cleveland | New York), 1955
EDITION: First Edition, First Printing*
*RE: On the Copyright Page, the statement “First Edition.”
NOTE: This book is NOT an ex-library copy or a Book of the Month Club edition.
ISBN: N/A (Pre-ISBN)
CONDITION OF DUST JACKET: VERY GOOD.
Price ($5.00) is unclipped. Corners & spine tips are chipped. Wear along edges include a few tiny (closed) cuts. Mild staining near bottom of spine on back. Creases & light soiling on sides. (Protected in a Plastic DJ cover.)
CONDITION of BOOK ITSELF: VERY GOOD.
Book has a v. slight slant. Boards are clean with bumped tips. Spine is tight with bright lettering & bumped tips. Text-bock edges are moderately age-toned. Inside covers are ghosted. Inked number on top of free front endpaper. Pages, though lightly age-toned, are all bright & clean with no writing or underlining or doodling, no tears or holes, no stains or foxing, no foul odors, etc.
SHIPPING NEWS: This book will be wrapped with care before being shipped in a cushioned and sturdy box. THANK YOU!
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