SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

New York City, NY: Random House, 1979. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Random House, 1979. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 151 pages. The author's third novel. One of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Elizabeth Hardwick's "Sleepless Nights". Elusive, impressionistic, and complex, written in Hardwick's exquisite prose style. "Intelligent, lyrical, and partly autobiographical, 'Sleepless Nights' is a scrapbook of memories: The first pangs of sexual longing, Billie Holiday holding forth in a cheap hotel, and the swagger and heartbreak of New York City. Elegant, wise, tasty. A truly wonderful book" (Susan Sontag). Which continues to mesmerize and inspire, more than forty years later: The brilliant young composer David Felsenfeld (who was a little boy when the book first came out in 1979) adapted it for his piece, "Sleepless Nights", first performed on June 25, 2015 by the singers Ariadne Greif and Kacey Cardin with the Nouveau Classical Project Ensemble. An absolute "must-have" title for Elizabeth Hardwick collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the front free endpaper by Elizabeth Hardwick. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Hardwick's penmanship is the most beautiful we have ever seen: Clean, flowing, and elegant, every single word legible, unlike the chicken scratch most authors now have with the demise of writing in long hand. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: The full number line that includes the Number 2 (instead of the Number 1) with the "First Edition" statement were the Random House "true first" indications at the time of the book's publication. A rare signed copy thus. One of the finest American writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ELIZABETH HARDWICK TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0394505271.