True Grit
By Charles Portis
 
First edition, first impression: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.
 
Octavo. Original blue-grey cloth, spine lettered in gilt with decorative devices; yellow top-stain and mustard endpapers and paste-downs. With the original pictorial dust jacket, designed by Paul Davis, priced $4.95 to the front flap.
 
A very good copy. The cloth clean and fresh, corners sharp, the spine head gently pushed; a little age-toning to the text block edges. Internally crisp and unmarked, with the copyright page stating “First printing”.
 
The dust jacket, featuring the iconic artwork by Paul Davis, is very good indeed: a little wear at the edges, mainly to spine ends with an associated tiny nick to spine head, some mild soiling to lower panel, and a touch of sunning to the spine panel; nevertheless bright and complete, with no loss and the price intact.
 
Portis’s second novel and his undisputed masterpiece, True Grit introduced the indelible figure of Mattie Ross and secured the author’s reputation as one of the most distinctive American voices of the post-war period. First published as a serial in The Saturday Evening Post, the novel achieved wide popular and critical success and has remained continuously in print. Its cultural afterlife was cemented by the celebrated 1969 film adaptation, for which John Wayne won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn.