The King’s Indian. By John Gardner. First Edition, First Printing. Knopf. New York, 1974.

John Gardner was an American author and literary scholar who was consistently met with critical acclaim. His most famous novel is probably Grendel which retells the story of Beowulf from the monster’s perspective. He also taught creative writing for decades and published some of the most influential fiction craft books of the twentieth century. In The King’s Indian, Gardner provides his first and only short story collection published in his lifetime. It contains nine stories of exceptional quality. Several were previously published in literary magazines, others first appear in this edition.

This first edition, first printing is in very good condition. In the original pictorial cloth, about-fine with only fading to spine and edges. Text block near-fine, only very minor dampstain to first few pages. In the original dust jacket, very good with only chipping to top edges, minor closed tears, and fading to spine. Price clipped.

A very good first edition of John Gardner’s first short story collection.