Talese, Gay [Gaetano]; Zagorski, Stanislav [Illustrator]

GAY TALESE | LOT OF FIVE WORKS [FAME AND OBSCURITY; THE OVERREACHERS; THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE; NEW YORK A SERENDIPITER'S JOURNEY; THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER] [Four Books, Signed]

New York: Various Publishers, 1961; 1965; 1969-1970; 1980. First Edition. Octavo, five volumes. In Very Good minus condition with Good dust jackets. Black, white and gray spines with black, tan, pink and white lettering. Dust jackets are wrapped in mylar covers, have tears and chipping to spine head/tails, light age toning and creasing to edges. Boards have light age toning to edges, minor bumping to spine head/tails and fore corners, and light scuffing throughout. "Fame and Obscurity" has a dent along the front bottom edge of the board. “New York [...]” boards are slightly warped. "Thy Neighbor's Wife" has light plus soiling to boards throughout. Textblocks have age toning and light shelf wear throughout. “New York [...]” has occasional pencil marginalia to some pages throughout. “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” has a smudge to the fore edge of page [1], and light soiling to top edges. Shelved in Room F.

CONTENTS: "Fame and Obscurity", (x, 357 pages), Published by The World Publishing Company in 1970. Dust jacket price uncut, “$7.95”. Inscribed “For Susan and Neil Sheehan, Two immensely talented people whom I’m honored to know! What future can Maria have in such a setting? She’ll have to be a poet or a landlord!” and signed by Gay Talese on the front free end page; – “The Overreachers”, (190 pages), Published by Harper & Row in 1965. Dust jacket price uncut, “$3.95”; – “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” (568 pages), Published by Doubleday & Company in 1980. Dust jacket price uncut “$14.95”. Inscribed “For Neil & Susan, With all my love, and thanks for your help and encouragement through the years. Your friend always” and signed “Gay” on the front free end page; – “New York A Serendipiter’s Journey”, (141 pages), Published by Harper & Brothers in 1961. Dust jacket price uncut “$3.95”. Inscribed “To Susan- With admiration for a wonderful writer and person- Best always-”, dated “1961” and signed “Gay” on the front free end page; – “The Kingdom and the Power”, (555 pages), Published by The World Publishing Company in 1969. Dust jacket price uncut “$10.00”. Inscribed “For Susan and Neil- With admiration and affection, and with a bow to myself for having introduced you to one another”, dated “June 10, 1969” and signed “Gay” on the second front free end page.

1413436

Special Collections

Price: $1,500

NOTES

Gaetano "Gay" Talese (b. 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for The New York Times and Esquire magazine during the 1960s, he helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. As a close friend of both Neil and Susan Sheehan, Talese arranged a blind date between them, a meeting that culminated in their marriage in 1965.

Second Story Books is honored to offer this item from the personal collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan. Neil Sheehan (1936–2021) and Susan Sheehan (1937-2026) were a distinguished husband-and-wife team whose careers helped define American literary journalism in the second half of the twentieth century. Neil Sheehan, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for The New York Times, is best known for his role in bringing the Pentagon Papers to public attention and for his landmark book "A Bright Shining Lie", while Susan Sheehan built a parallel reputation as a leading voice at The New Yorker, crafting deeply reported narrative nonfiction on subjects ranging from mental health to social institutions, earning her own Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Their longstanding ties to major publications, particularly The New Yorker, placed them at the center of an influential cultural and intellectual network, and the books from their library carry added provenance through this close connection to the magazine’s editorial and artistic community.