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871

J. D. Salinger

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD
J. D. Salinger

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Auction Date:2013 Mar 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
The 1936 edition of Crossed Sabres, the Annual of the Corps of Cadets of the Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne, Pennsylvania, 8 x 10.75, 220 pages. Signed in fountain pen over his portrait, “Best of luck from an ex-Great Necker, Jerome Salinger.” Under Salinger’s name, rank, birth date and hometown, his activities are listed: “Private, ’34; Intramural Activities; Mask and Spur, ’34, ’35; Glee Club, ’34, ’35; Plebe Detail, ’35; Aviation Club; French Club; Non-Commissioned Officers’ Club; Literary Editor, 1936 CROSSED SABRES.” Salinger is listed or pictured seven more times in the yearbook as well. On page 56 as a member of ‘First Class’; page 132 in the Class Prophecy section, listing the future activities of my classmates “‘Jerry’ Salinger, writing four-act melodramas for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.” The Class Poem on page 138 was written by “Jerome D. Salinger, ’36.” Three stanzas of eight lines each, it begins, “Hide not thy tears on this last day – / Your sorrow has no shame; / To march no more midst lines of gray; / No longer play the game.” The Crossed Sabres Staff on page 160 lists “Jerome D. Salinger, Literary Editor.” He appears again on pages 161 and 162 in photos of the Crossed Sabres Staff and The Mask and Spur drama club, respectively. Yearbook was the property of Charles Grossman and bears an ownership bookplate affixed to the second free end page. The book is also signed throughout by other members of the Academy. Autographic condition: fine. Accompanied by three other yearbooks belonging to Grossman, The Arista 1935 (Senior Class, Great Neck H.S.) and Crossed Sabres from 1937 and 1938. Book condition: VG/None. Black cloth-covered boards with gilt emblem on front; edges worn; light soiling; edges and tissue pages yellowed; expected loosening of hinges from being opened flat and signed.

Before the gruesome reality of World War II forever changed him, and before literary success and public scrutiny pushed him into a reclusive lifestyle, ‘Jerry’ Salinger was a typical high school student. This yearbook offers an amazing look into the author’s life at the same age of his most famous protagonist. It shows him in the hallways that later gave shape to Pencey Prep, among the classmates who would serve as models for Holden’s peers in The Catcher in the Rye (including fellow Valley Forge cadet Norman Wade Ackley, who unwittingly gave his name to Caulfield’s unhygienic and irritating friend). It shows the earliest stages of his proclivity for creative writing, serving as literary editor of the Crossed Sabres yearbook and contributing his own work, including the Class Poem contained within this copy. One of the earliest Salinger signatures we have seen, this glimpse into his life as an active and social teenager is a truly remarkable piece of American literary history.
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