8vo. Original black cloth, gilt-lettered spine (hinges a bit tender, faint crease to spine, a few tiny specks to text block); dust jacket (a few small stains to flap folds, some minor scuffs to rear panel).

FIRST EDITION, IN THE FIRST ISSUE DUST JACKET printed in red, black, and yellow with the cropped photograph of Salinger on rear cover, and flap priced at $3.00. The novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has entered the pantheon of American literary heroes. "The Catcher in the Rye was a symptom of a need, after a ghastly war and during a ghastly pseudo-peace, for the young to raise a voice of protest against the failures of the adult world. The young used many voices—anger, contempt, self-pity—but the quietest, that of a decent perplexed American adolescent, proved the most telling" (Anthony Burgess, 99 Novels, pp.53-54). Bixby A2a; Starosciak A30a. A VERY BRIGHT COPY.