1 of 11

Jaws First Edition Signed with Drawing by Peter Benchley

$5,505.60List Price

About the Item

First edition, early printing of Peter Benchley’s classic work, Jaws signed by the author on the title page with a drawing of a shark head by the author, a rare feature. It is a carefully looked after copy and is in a remarkably good overall condition for a book that attained vintage status in 2024. Although Doubleday and Company first printed Jaws in October 1973 with the gutter code 044, dictated by marketing reason, the company delayed the release of Jaws until the February of the next year. Hence the denotation of 1974 as the year of the first edition on the copyright page. Benchley is reported to have commented that neither he nor anyone else involved in the In the conception of Jaws initially realized the book’s potential. The first printing of the first edition was a huge sales success and it stayed in the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks, selling a total of 125, 000 copies. Encouraged by the reading-public’s response to the first impression, the publisher issued a second imprint in 1974. This copy is from the second imprint of the first edition. The world-wide sales of Jaws, including the paperback editions are estimated at 20 million copies. When Benchley wrote Jaws in the early 1970s, he meticulously researched all available data about the behaviour of sharks that contributed to the emergence of the book as a classic in its genre. It is a finely crafted, superbly paced study of terror that is meant to terrify the reader with tingling imagery. It was made into a blockbuster motion picture, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Murray Hamilton and Lorraine Gary. Jaws is the first film to gross £100 million at the box office. It was the highest grossing film in modern motion history up to that time. In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Library, being deemed ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’. Specific Details Publication Year: 1974 Impression: Out the second impression issued in 1974 Publisher: Double Day ; Company, Inc, Garden City, New York Condition: An extremely clean copy, not price-clipped and its price of $6.95 is on the top of the dust jacket flap. There are no inscriptions or previous owner markings. Text block: Near fine for age, shows minor signs of wear near the top and bottom of spine, there are no signs of foxing or markings or excessive age-toning; the top edge bears minor mark, other two edges are of devoid of blemishes. Covers: Clean except for a minor patch on the back cover that shows a slight loss of colour. Dust jacket: It was created by the artist Paul Bacon. Bacon drew an enormous shark head initially and Doubleday’s design director, Alex Gotfryd suggested adding a swimmer ‘ to have a sense of disaster and a sense of scale.’ The subsequent drawing became the eventual artwork for the iconic dust jacket with a shark head rising towards a swimming woman in bikini. Near fine for age, bright and vibrant, few minor patches of loss of the black colour, red pigmented letters show no loss of colour, a clear indication that this copy has not been exposed to light; there are no chips, dinks, tears or creases. Back of the dust jacket shows a photo of Peter Benchley by Alex Gotfryd in turtle neck and sport coat. Dust jacket protected in a mylar sleeve Our Comment Genuine item for a book collector, especially for a dedicated collector of modern fiction; it ranks as a top-grade alternative investment in the genre of modern fiction and has the potential for the creation of an antiquarian book with assured appeal and substantial value, provided its present condition is preserved till 2074, following measures recommended by antiquarian book conservators. We confidently predict that the value of the book in 2074 when it acquires antiquarian status will be in the same league as are antiquarian copies of such classics as Great Gatsby and Farewell to Arms today. (See James Cummins Bookseller’s publication, ‘The Art of the Dust Jacket’ to appreciate the stratospheric prices antiquarian books with dust jackets achieve today.) An ideal book to create a family heirloom or gift to a newly born grandchild.

Dimensions:
Height: 9.75 in (24.77 cm)Width: 7.34 in (18.65 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Paper
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1974
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Pewsey, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU7343243571602

Vintage 1970s American Post-Modern Books

Materials

Paper

Jaws by Peter Benchley, First Edition with Dust Jacket, 1974

$1,750

H 8.5 in W 5.88 in D 1 in

Nobuyoshi Araki Signed First Edition Book New York (Volume 4) With Drawing

By Nobuyoshi Araki

Located in Studio City, CA

A very engaging and quite scarce first edition softcover book with dust jacket by famed Japanese photographer and contemporary artist Nobuyoshi Araki. The book titled New York, cons...

Category

1990s Japanese Modern Books

Materials

Paper

Nobuyoshi Araki Signed First Edition Book New York (Volume 4) With Drawing

$495

H 9 in W 6.5 in D 0.75 in

Drawings and Digressions by Larry Rivers, First Edition

By Larry Rivers

Located in valatie, NY

Drawings and Digressions by Larry Rivers. Clarkson N. Potter, New York, 1979. First edition hardcover with dust jacket. 263 pp. Foreword by John Ashbery with 285 illustrations and ph...

Category

20th Century American Books

Materials

Paper

Drawings and Digressions by Larry Rivers, First Edition

$99

H 11.25 in W 11 in D 1.25 in

Gore Vidal s First Novel "WILLIWAW", Signed First Edition

Located in Middletown, NY

Gore Vidal, WILLIWAW New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1946. First edition, first printing Measures: 8vo, 8 x 5 1/2 in. (223 x142 mm); pp. 222 . Original black cloth, titles on spine and front board in bright blue ink, top edge black. Original dust jacket in very good condition, lightly rubbed at extremities, price clipped; back endpaper lightly tanned. INSCRIBED COPY, signed by the author on the title page to Harvey Donogan and SIGNED again in blue ink on the dust jacket next to his author photo...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Books

Materials

Paper

Gore Vidal s First Novel "WILLIWAW", Signed First Edition

$1,300

H 8 in W 5.5 in D 1.25 in

Modern Prints and Drawings by Paul J. Sachs, First Edition

By Paul J. Sachs

Located in valatie, NY

Modern Prints and Drawings, a guide to a better understanding of draughtsmanship, by Paul J. Sachs. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954. First edition hardcover with no dust jacket. 262 ...

Category

20th Century American Books

Materials

Paper

Modern Prints and Drawings by Paul J. Sachs, First Edition

$59

H 10.5 in W 7.5 in D 1.25 in

Peter Halley Maintain Speed by Susan Kandel, New First Edition

By Peter Halley

Located in valatie, NY

Peter Halley Maintain Speed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2000. New First Edition hardcover. 217 pp. A survey of the full range of Peter Halley's work and career inclu...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Books

Materials

Paper

Peter Halley Maintain Speed by Susan Kandel, New First Edition

$195

H 10 in W 8.75 in D 1 in

SCHULZ - Peanuts Jubilee - FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED WITH A DRAWING OF SNOOPY !

Located in Hillsborough, NJ

AUTHOR: SCHULZ, Charles. TITLE: Peanuts Jubilee. My Life and Art With Charlie Brown and Others. PUBLISHER: NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED WITH A DRAWING. 1 vol., 15-3/8" x 11-3/8", illustrated, inscribed on the half-title "For B. J. with every best wish - Charles M. Schulz" with the addition of a large full body sketch of Snoopy, hardcover, original stamped silver boards. CONDITION: Inner and outer hinges fine, mild general handling to covers, foredge of rear pastedown and endpaper worn, internally clean and bright, overall VERY GOOD. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: "B.J." is B.J. Thomas best...

Category

Vintage 1970s American Books

Materials

Paper

SCHULZ - Peanuts Jubilee - FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED WITH A DRAWING OF SNOOPY !

$5,900

H 11.38 in W 15.38 in D 1 in

Origin of Species 1859, first edition, first issue, SIGNED

Located in London, GB

The most important book ever printed, and the closest you will ever come to owning a signed copy. In On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, Darwin first set out the theory of ...

Category

Antique 1850s Books

Materials

Paper

Origin of Species 1859, first edition, first issue, SIGNED

$385,392

H 7.68 in W 4.93 in D 1.58 in

Cornell Capa: Photographs, Signed First Edition by Cornell Capa

By Cornell Capa

Located in valatie, NY

Cornell Capa: Photographs by Cornell Capa. Bulfinch Pr, 1992. Signed by both editors on title page and also inscribed by Capa. Stated first edition hardcover with dust jacket. 179 du...

Category

1990s American Books

Materials

Paper

Cornell Capa: Photographs, Signed First Edition by Cornell Capa

$159

H 11.25 in W 10.25 in D 0.75 in

Wrightsman Collection, Vols I-V, First Editions, Signed by the Wrightsmans

By Carl C. Dauterman, F.J.B. Watson, Everett Fahy

Located in valatie, NY

The Wrightsman collection, Vols. I-V. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1966-1973. First edition hardcovers with dust jackets. 2248 pp. Inscribed by the Wrightsmans. The complete series of The Wrightsman collection catalogues from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who, in a relatively short period of time—beginning in 1952—amassed the finest private collection in America of the decorative arts of the Ancien Régime (15th c until 1792). Throughout the years the Wrightsmans' active interest in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts has resulted in splendid gifts that have enabled the Museum to create an unparalleled and truly encyclopaedic collection of French 18th c...

Category