NY, Morrow, 1968. His first novel, which had a first printing of only 4000 copies. Crews resuscitated the Southern gothic tradition in the late 1960s and 1970s, picking up the mantle from such writers as Flannery O'Connor and, earlier, William Faulkner. His string of novels that includes Karate is a Thing of the Spirit, Car, Naked in Garden Hills, This Thing Don't Lead to Heaven, The Gypsy's Curse, and others defined a sensibility at once rough-edged, sad, and hilarious -- steeped in the comic and grotesque tradition that had permeated southern fiction and had given it its distinctive flavor. Signed by the author in 1969 at Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. Fading to pastedowns, as is typical for this title; small label partially removed from front flyleaf; near fine in a fine dust jacket. A nice copy of the first book by one of the unique voices in American fiction. [#019439] SOLD