Fair Maiden, A- Joyce Carol Oates
NF/NF

For sale: a Rare and Exceptional first hardcover edition, first printing of A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates. First Edition stated, 2010 Otto Penzler. First Printing, with complete number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

The book is in Near Fine condition with clean, bright boards, strong title ink on a convex spine, clean page blocks, tight binding, mild spine tilt, rolled spine ends, mild edge wear, and one bumped corner. The interior of the book is in Fine condition without any marks, inscriptions, or other signs of ownership. The end papers and the interior pages are clean and bright.

The dust jacket is in Near Fine condition with mild edge wear. First state jacket with a white sticker partially covering the rear barcode, the $22.00 price and the 0110 date code on the front flap looks great in a new archival wrap.

Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak is out for a walk on the gracious streets of Bayhead Harbor with her two summer babysitting charges when she’s approached by silver-haired, elegant Marcus Kidder. At first his interest in her seems harmless, even pleasant; like his name, a sort of gentle joke. His beautiful home, the children’s books he’s written, his classical music, the marvelous art in his study, his lavish presents to her Mr. Kidder’s life couldn’t be more different from Katya’s drab working-class existence back home in South Jersey, or more enticing. But by degrees, almost imperceptibly, something changes, and posing for Mr. Kidder’s new painting isn’’t the lighthearted endeavor it once was.