New York, Harper & Brothers, [March] 1961.
1 vol. (135 x 215 mm) of 209 p., [2] and 1 f. Publisher's boards, illustrated dust jacket.
American first edition and true first edition of the text. (Fictitious) translation by John Markham Beach. First printing, with “First edition” statement.
“This book was first published in France under the title Le Mangeur d’Étoiles,” in a translation credited to John Markham Beach, the same “translator” as for Promise at Dawn [La Promesse de l’aube]. Both statements are false: The Talent Scout was written directly in English, following Gary’s stay in Bolivia, and was first published almost simultaneously in New York and London. Les Mangeurs d’étoiles would not appear from Éditions Gallimard until 1966; as for John Markham Beach, it is a pseudonym.
The title forms the first volume of La Comédie américaine, later completed by The Ski Bum in 1965.
#30053
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