WEST, NATHANAEL. The Dream Life of Balso Snell. Paris & New York: Contact Editions [1931]. Tall 8vo, original decorated printed wrappers, uncut, pieces chipped from ends of spine, splits along front outer joint, darkening to spine and portions of sides, a few light stains on front cover; half morocco folding case. FIRST EDITION of the author's first book, no. 144 of 500 copies, PRESENTATION COPY TO ROBERT M. COATES, inscribed by the author on front flyleaf: "For Bob Coates In memory of many happy days in field and [brook?] -- Nathanael West" (referring to their hunting and fishing). The writer Robert Coates was one of West's closest friends and one of his earliest and best supporters. Coates himself wrote what has been frequently called the first Dada novel in the English language, The Eater of Darkness (his first book, published by Contact Editions in 1926); he went on to a distinguished writing career, which included being the art critic of The New Yorker.

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WEST, NATHANAEL. The Dream Life of Balso Snell. Paris & New York: Contact Editions [1931]. Tall 8vo, original decorated printed wrappers, uncut, pieces chipped from ends of spine, splits along front outer joint, darkening to spine and portions of sides, a few light stains on front cover; half morocco folding case. FIRST EDITION of the author's first book, no. 144 of 500 copies, PRESENTATION COPY TO ROBERT M. COATES, inscribed by the author on front flyleaf: "For Bob Coates In memory of many happy days in field and [brook?] -- Nathanael West" (referring to their hunting and fishing). The writer Robert Coates was one of West's closest friends and one of his earliest and best supporters. Coates himself wrote what has been frequently called the first Dada novel in the English language, The Eater of Darkness (his first book, published by Contact Editions in 1926); he went on to a distinguished writing career, which included being the art critic of The New Yorker.