First US edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the half-title, "Paul Bowles. Tangier, April 1985." American-born Bowles moved to Tangier in 1947, where he lived until his death in 1999. Tangier was the setting of this, his first novel, a key title in the development of Beat literature. It was first published in September 1949 in the UK, after Doubleday rejected the manuscript; the first US edition followed a month later. Norman Mailer commented that with this title, Bowles "opened the world of Hip. He let in the murder, the drugs, the incest, the death of the Square ... the call of the orgy, the end of civilization". Uncommon inscribed, with just two copies appearing at auction.
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