EXISTENTIAL ERRANDS

Boston: Little Brown, (1972). First edition. One of the dedication copies. From the collection of Adeline Lubell-Naiman. INSCRIBED on dedication page below the printed names, "Could this be for your distinguished service in Maidstone dear old editor darling? / Love / Norman." A collection of essays, excerpts, etc., written from 1967 to 1972. First book appearance for many. In addition to Adeline, the book is dedicated to his sister Barbara, daughter Susan, and to "Al." Small tear at head of spine, still about very good in slightly soiled white dust jacket with several tears. Adeline Lubell-Naiman was the editor instrumental in the eventual publication of THE NAKED AND THE DEAD. In 1946, while an editor at Little, Brown, Lubell-Naiman convinced Mailer to submit the first 200 pages of THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, which she talked up to her publisher. Unfortunately, she was also the one to suggest historian and critic Bernard DeVoto read the manuscript--he recommended not publishing. But Mailer submitted it to Rinehart, who published the book in 1948. Over the years, Lubell-Naiman remained close friends with Mailer and his wives. In the summer of 1968 she even played the role of "Adeline McCarthy," a president of a women's college in Mailer's film "Maidstone" (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center website). INSCRIBED "FOR YOUR DISTIGUISHED SERVICE IN 'MAIDSTONE'