NY, Knopf, 1981. The uncorrected proof copy of Carver's second major story collection, and his first significant commercial success: the first of his books to be published by a mainstream literary publishing house, Knopf, and the first to go into multiple printings immediately after publication. Carver's relentless paring away of the excess in his stories, which earned him the label "minimalist" -- a designation he stridently rejected throughout his career -- is evident in this collection: two of the stories had been published earlier, in the collection Furious Seasons, but here are shorter and more spare (one of them also having been re-titled). Reproduces Carver's holograph corrections to the text, including a number of small word changes, excisions, and in one case the addition of a line to the end of a story. Signed by Carver. A remarkable glimpse of the stories as works-in-progress, up to and even after they had been typeset for publication. Several small spots to the covers; near fine in wrappers. [#032753] SOLD