McSorley's Wonderful Saloon
New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1943.
First edition, first printing. A splendid association copy between two noteworthy contributors to The New Yorker; significant as the stories that make up this book famously made their debut in that magazine. Signed by Joseph Mitchell and inscribed in a shaky hand (just seven weeks before he would pass away) to artist Richard Merkin, "For my colleague Richard Merkin whose work I greatly admire [signed] Joseph Mitchell New York City April 7, 1996." [xiii], 253 pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth with spine lettered in black. Fine in a Very Good+ unclipped dust jacket, variant photo at rear panel shows Mitchell without a hat or typewriter (as it's a little unflattering and less on-brand it seems more likely to predate the other variant) slightly chipped, tear to rear joint with associated creasing. The author's best known work, a collection of keenly-observed essays about New York's oldest Irish pub, McSorley's Saloon, and its unusual patrons, inscribed to fellow New Yorker contributor Richard Merkin. Considered one of Gotham's most outrageous men-about-town, Merkin was a lauded Cubist painter and illustrator, a tenured RISD professor, and enjoyed a lengthy career in the New York scene with regular contributions to Vanity Fair, Harper's Magazine and a solo column "Merkin on Style" in GQ. A friend of artist Peter Blake, he landed a cutout portrait on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album cover. Mitchell, infamous for his decades-long writer's block, likely admired and was perhaps inspired by Merkin's fashionable presence and contagious joie de vivre.
Price: $3,500