(3 vols.) The American Earthquake, The Twenties & The Fifties

New York: 1) Doubleday 2 & 3) Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1986. All first editions. Near Fine/Near Fine. Edmund Wilson Jr (1895-1972) was an American writer, literary critic and journalist He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary critics of the 20th century Wilson began his career as a journalist, writing for publications such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker He helped to edit The New Republic, served as chief book critic for The New Yorker, and was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books Wilson was the author of more than twenty books, including Axel's Castle, Patriotic Gore, and a work of fiction, Memoirs of Hecate County He was a friend of many notable figures of the time, including F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and John Dos Passos His scheme for a Library of America series of national classic works came to fruition through the efforts of Jason Epstein after Wilson's death He was a two-time winner of the National Book Award and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964This includes three of his more important works:1 The American Earthquake, A Documentary of the Jazz Age, the Great Depression and the New Deal - `Doubleday Anchor Books, New York, 1958, Near fine in gray cloth with gilt titles on a red badge on spine and a small red and gilt anchor motif at the bottom of the front cover Slight age toning, but otherwise unmarked and undamaged Unclipped DJ has slight shelf wear only2 The Twenties, From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 1975, Gray cloth with gilt titles on spine Front endpapers and jacket flap darkened from a newspaper clipping laid inside the front cover No other marks or damage Unclipped DJ has very slight edgewear The newspaper clipping is a NYT book review for another Wilson title, A Window on Russia3 The Fifties, From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 1986 In green cloth with gilt titles on the spine The book is pristine, with no marks or damage at all Unclipped DJ is also in excellent condition 576, 557, 663 pp.