IS SEX NECESSARY? OR WHY YOU FEEL THE WAY YOU DO
New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1929. First Edition. Hardcover. Thirteenth Printing. Original cloth-backed boards housed in a cloth chemise and slipcase. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by both authors on the front endpaper with an ORIGINAL INITIALED DRAWING on the front pastedown by Thurber titled "Sex 1940" depicting a couple embracing while their dog looks on in dismay. Charming presentation copy, humorously INSCRIBED by both Thurber and White to Margaret Thurlow, at the time a secretary and copy editor at THE NEW YORKER: “For Margaret Thurlow/This book has an ancient/theme, now almost forgotten./EB White” and below “Yeh, as forgotten as/Lincoln's Gettysburg address./as ever/James Thurber." Thurlow worked in this position for 10 years, and among her many responsibilities, assisted the office manager in handling Thurber's correspondence from readers and publishers. Thurber and White joined THE NEW YORKER staff in 1927, and it was White who retrieved several examples of Thurber's drawings from the trash and had them first published. They would both contribute to the magazine for decades, and White would go on to publish such classics as STUART LITTLE (1945) and CHARLOTTE'S WEB (1952). From the library of noted bookseller William S. Reese with his book-plate on the inner front panel of the chemise. Rear hinge cracked, loose. Covers rubbed with some edgewear, particularly along the spine which has some fraying on the rear edge. Good, lacking the dustwrapper, in a Very Good slipcase. Item #022282
Price: $7,500.00