Edward Abbey's Scarcest Novel

The Brave Cowboy. NY: Dodd Mead (1956). Abbey's second and scarcest book, a contemporary western that was the basis for the film Lonely Are the Brave. A notable copy in that it bears the label of the Jaffe Agency, the author's film agent, on the front flyleaf. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay and Kirk Douglas starred as the Abbey alter-ego in what he later called his favorite of all the parts he had played in his career -- a rebel cowboy whose moral code puts him at odds with the powers that be.

Rubbing to board edges; one corner bumped; spine print dull; still about near fine in a very good, price-clipped and spine-faded dust jacket with some shallow discoloration to the edges and restoration to the front spine fold. Still, an attractive copy of one of the true rarities of postwar American fiction.