No Half-Nelsons Here !

Many authors have one book in their souls, but continue to write. Nelson Algren was not one of them  Our Full Nelson won the very first National Book Award in 1950 for TMWTGA.  Perhaps the award should have been shared with Simone de Beauvoir, the French writer and philosopher, with whom Algren enjoyed a torrid love affair in South America throughout 1949.  His two big ‘uns were made into movies - not so unusual during the 1950s - with big stars: Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak in "The Man With The Golden Arm," and Laurence Harvey, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter and Barbara Stanwyck in "A Walk On the Wild Side."  He also wrote a now rather scarce book of interest to fans of Hemingway: Notes From A Sea Diary  subtitled  Hemingway All the Way, an excellent collection of essays and hilarious anecdotes about his experiences at sea and his meeting with, and support of,  Ernest Hemingway. These books are highly collectible, but, as usual, condition is everything:

- The Man With the Golden Arm.   Doubleday, 1949  1st Edition.
A near fine condition book in a near fine dust jacket:  $125.00 - $150.00

 - The Man With the Golden Arm.   Doubleday, 1949  1st Edition. A fine condition book in a near fine   condition dust jacket. Inscribed by the author:  $1700.00   Vive la differance !

- A Walk on the Wild Side. Farrar, Straus and Cudahy,  1956  1st Edition. A fine condition book in a near fine condition dust jacket:  $100.00 - $150.00
- A Walk on the Wild Side. Farrar, Straus and Cudahy,  1956  1st Edition. A fine condition book in a near fine condition dust jacket. Signed: $200.00 - $250.00
- A Walk on the Wild Side. Farrar, Straus and Cudahy,  1956  1st Edition. A fine condition book in a near fine condition dust jacket. Inscribed, and accompanied by his  usual drawing of a cat:  $300.00 and up

-Notes From A Sea Diary: Hemingway All the Way. G.P. Putnam’s, 1965   1st Edition. A fine condition book in a fine condition dust jacket.  $ 25.00 - $65.00

Algren’s first novel, Somebody In Boots, was published in 1935 by Vanguard Press. It will cost you between $500.00 in barely collectible condition to over $12,000 for a signed, cat-drawing-enhanced copy. If you find or buy one, please let me touch it. Just once. Please !