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The 158-Pound Marriage
by Irving, John
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
New Milford, Connecticut, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
A very good copy of John Irving's third novel, the first printing of which is reputed to have been issued in a very small print run of 2,560 copies.
The ironic tone and erotic ambiguities of this tale of sexual experimentation in a New England university town foreshadow those of The World According to Garp.
Book has small ding and faint foxing to top edge, with gilt green and copper spine lettering and a gilt green "J" and a gilt copper "I" embossed on front board.
Jacket is unclipped and unfaded.
First end page has ownership sticker of Larry Kramer, (June 25, 1935 – May 27, 2020), the American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate and LGBT rights activist.
Synopsis
The 158-Pound Marriage, author John Irving's third published novel, revolves around an unidentified narrator, a college professor, and a mediocre novelist. The narrator met his wife Utch, an orphaned survivor of WWII, in Vienna while doing research. They are a relatively happy couple; their family rounded out by two children. At a faculty party, they meet Severin Winter, a Viennese-born professor and coach of the college wrestling team, and his wife, Edith. The couple's interests (Edith is an aspiring fiction writer, and Severin has a commonality with Utch's upbringing in Austria) and resulting infatuations between the couples lead to after-dinner partner-swapping. At first, the swinging goes smoothly, but eventually, uneven feelings and obsessions throw the couples off track. The title, The 158-Pound Marriage , refers to the 158-pound weight class in wrestling, which Severin, the coach, feels is the most competitive. The book is small, only 176 pages, compared to Irving's later weighty tomes, like the 610 page The World According to Garp ( 1978) and The Cider House Rules (1985), which is 973 pages.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The 158-Pound Marriage
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Details
- Bookseller
- Christopher de Lotbiniere Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 2394
- Title
- The 158-Pound Marriage
- Author
- Irving, John
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1974
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Christopher de Lotbiniere Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Christopher de Lotbiniere Rare Books
Biblio member since 2010
New Milford, Connecticut
About Christopher de Lotbiniere Rare Books
online used bookseller
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
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