The 42nd Parallel.

New York: Harper and Brothers, , 1930. The debut of the U.S.A. trilogy, handsomely bound First edition, first printing, of the author's first novel and the introduction of his major work, the U.S.A. trilogy, which claims to be The Great American Novel. Its experimental nature made the trilogy an internationally recognized "landmark of American modernism [and] led Jean-Paul Sartre and other writers worldwide to consider Dos Passos as important a writer as Ernest Hemingway or William Faulkner" (ANB). This title "appeared in 1930 to enthusiastic comments about his innovative modernist techniques and his biting criticism of various American ways. The many characters that were to wind through the three volumes of U.S.A. represented all aspects of American attitude and life, from women who had become interior decorators to avoid the boredom of traditional women's roles, to public relations men, pilots, factory workers, secretaries, and the politically involved" (ibid.) The trilogy was completed with 1919 (1932) and The Big Money (1936). Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in red morocco, spine lettered and framed in gilt, gilt ruling on covers and board edges, inner dentelles gilt, black coated endpapers, edges gilt. A fine copy.