The Mailer Review/Volume 3, 2009/Collecting Mailer
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Allen Ahearn
Abstract: An examination of the dimensions, complications, and rewards of collecting works by Norman Mailer.
URL: https://prmlr.us/mr03ahe
He was condemned and praised by the critics, and always controversial. You either liked his take on the world and his fiction and essays, or you didn’t. It has been said that good art provokes strong feelings—positive or negative. Well, if that is the measure, I would say that Norman Mailer was definitely a good artist. Others must agree because, in my experience, many book collectors value the first editions of Norman Mailer’s books.
Mailer was a man with a myth that surrounded him, and now, after his death, he has become somewhat of a legend—the tough guy who would take on anyone. Considering his importance in the canon of American literature, collecting first editions of his work seems like a reasonable investment for an admirer of his work (at least that is what we tell ourselves to rationalize buying first editions). I will therefore attempt to explain first edition collecting, outline the collectible Mailer books and how to identify them, and give an estimate of the retail prices in the market for fine copies of his books. It should be noted that the retail prices discussed below are for unsigned copies of his books and that signed copies would be higher priced, depending on the book. His signature would add $40 or $75 to inexpensive common books and hundreds of dollars to scarce books. It is difficult to put a fixed percentage on the increase.
A little background: Norman Mailer obtained an engineering degree from Harvard University in 1943 and attended the Sorbonne in Paris in 1947–48 He served in the Army during World War II, from 1944 to 1946. He was the Co-Editor of Dissent magazine from 1952 to 1963 and a contributing editor thereafter. He was a co-founder and the namer of the Village Voice. Mailer famously ran for mayor of New York City in 1969. He won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for non-fiction with The Armies of the Night in 1969 and a Pulitzer in fiction for The Executioner’s Song in 1980.
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