GOING DOWN

Markson, David

Published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1970

First edition of this early Markson title, with five letters and three postcards from the author to managing editor Steven Moore of the Dalkey Archive, concerning the novel's anticipated but never-realized Dalkey reissue. GOING DOWN was Markson's fifth novel overall, but only his second "literary" one (the three noirish pulps are conspicuously not listed under the "Also by." titles in this edition). Markson's chatty and cordial letters to Moore - all dated between 1991 and 1995 - concern corrections to be made from the Holt edition ("please file for future reference"); his opinions on potential jacket blurbs from Edward Butscher, Kurt Vonnegut, and Leslie H. Whitten; and a requested addition to the book's dedication to Malcolm Lowry, underlined for emphasis: "Please change the last line to read: / Malcolm Lowry, a friend. / I suspect that people who did not know my relationship with Lowry took the dedication as pretentious (especially on a Mexican novel). And there ain't that many people who will know it this time around either." Though Dalkey had already published Markson's WITTGENSTEIN'S MISTRESS (in 1988, later reprinted with an afterword by Moore) and would publish several other Markson titles, their planned GOING DOWN never appeared. The final, still-hopeful postcard in this sequence is dated January of 1995 - Moore departed the Dalkey Archive Press in 1996 - and no more was heard of it. Another ten years later, Catapult Press finally did reissue the novel, though by then Markson had learned to temper his expectations: "My old (and in many ways favorite) novel GOING DOWN is scheduled to be reissued next spring. Correct that: is being scheduled for then. I exercise caution because it was planned a few times before" (FARE FORWARD: Letters from David Markson). A revealing and important association between this major writer and arguably his most important editor. 8.25'' x 5.5''. Original black cloth. Red topstain. In original unclipped ($5.95) black typographic dust jacket. [10], 278 pages. Laid in: Two typed and three handwritten letters, all in original envelopes, and three typed postcards, all addressed to Moore by Markson. Light scuffing and a few small chips to dust jacket extremities. Near fine in very good plus jacket. Seller Inventory # 52544

Bibliographic Details

Title: GOING DOWN
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York
Publication Date: 1970
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: dj
Edition: First printing.