Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Arthur Miller. Situation Normal .. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$33.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Yellow cloth, black and red lettering, rubbed, a bit soiled, cracked inside at spine, a tad loose. FER ; Ex-Library
Seller: Sleepy Hollow Books, Huntington, VT, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. Situation Normal. Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: No dust jacket. Former library book with slightly shaken binding, solid, but soiled boards with bumped corners, sticker ghost on front board, unmarked pages throughout.
Seller: Shaker Mill Books, W. Stockbridge, MA, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. SITUATION NORMAL. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944, 1944.
Price: US$69.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 1st Edition. Author's 1st Book. 179 pages. Original sale sticker on back paste-down endpaper. Yellow cloth, red and black title on front; and black and red titles on spine. Book slightly loose; outside slightly soiled. Good.
Seller: J. Wyatt Books, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Price: US$74.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 8 vo, 179 pp. lemon yellow cloth with Situation" in red, and "Normal." in black. (1944) with no additional printings. APPEARS to be a First, First. Jacket not clipped ($2.00). LAID IN: Review by Corporal Maurice Basseches, clipped from The Saturday Review dated December 2, 1944.
Seller: A Few Books More. . ., Billings, MT, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. Situation Normal. Reynal & Hitchcock, NY, 1944.
Price: US$74.99 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Yellow cloth titled in red and black. No additional printings. Slight fray to spine head, some soil/toning to cloth. Unmarked, tight and square. The DJ in mylar is chipped, with shallow losses to edge, toned, and lightly soiled. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall
Seller: curtis paul books, inc., Northridge, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: (1944). First edition. Previous seller's sticker to f.p.d. Faint speckled soiling to covers. Dust jacket front flap price clipped. Chipping and edgewear to d.j. VG/VG.
Seller: Strand Book Store, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$84.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo, pp. 179. A very good copy without dj. Author's First Book. Scarce. Jensen A1a. This is material gathered for production of the movie "GI Joe"
Seller: Second Life Books, Inc., Lanesborough, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: First edition and first printing. Hardcover. 179 pages. The first book from the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning play"Death of a Saleman." A clean and tight very near fine copy in yellow cloth boards in a near fine dust jacket with some very light wear. A very nice copy.
Seller: Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA, Wadsworth, IL, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. Situation Normal. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$160.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: DJ in archival cover edge ware soiling. The author's first book.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$187.89 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: pp: 179. SIGNED FIRST EDITION. Yellow cloth covered boards, with red and black lettering on the spine and front board. A work of non-fiction by Miller that describes army life on military bases. He had written several plays before this book but this is his first published book (Ahearn, Collected Books, 1997). Printed on the cheaper war time paper. This copy has been inscribed on the free endpaper "To----Britton/Arthur Miller/Aug/53". The yellow boards have some darkening in the centre (both front and back) that appears to have been a dye transfer. Although visible the darkening is not serious. The spine ends and corners are bumped and the top edge is soiled. The dust jacket has obvious darkening and soiling. There is about one-quarter inch chipped at the head of the spine, smaller chipping and a couple of short, closed tears on the extremities. Overall, a very good copy of this author's scarce first book, signed by Miller. The images should show these faults. Please inquiry is more photos are required.
Seller: MAPLE RIDGE BOOKS, UXBRIDGE, ON, Canada
Arthur Miller. Situation Normal. [Signed]. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944. First Edition. Signed by Arthur Miller at title page without inscription. Octavo. 179 pp. Illustrated dust jacket with $2.00 price present. Yellow boards stamped in black and red. Dust jacket chipped along edges with general soiling and smudging and tape mending to verso. Boards lightly worn along edges, corners bumped, mild soiling to edges and patch of red discoloration to top of spine. Binding is sound and pages unmarked. Miller's first book, the story of his research into Ernie Pyle's war-time correspondence to help with the production of William Wellman's 1945 film, The Story of G.I. Joe.
Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
MILLER, Arthur.. Situation Normal.. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: 179 pp. 8vo, publisher's lettered cloth in dust jacket. First edition. A bright copy with a little use to the extremities of the spine and the rear panel; in a dust-soiled jacket with a few small chips. Signed by Arthur Miller on the title page. Author's first book.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
MILLER, Arthur. Situation Normal.. Reynal and Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. Octavo. 179pp. Modest soil, wear at the spine ends and corners, very good, lacking the dust jacket. Signed by Miller on the front fly. His first book.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. Situation Normal. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Octavo, yellow cloth lettered in red and black; bookplate; unclipped pictorial dust jacket, with slight edge-wear to extremities, reinforced on verso. First edition of Miller's first book, with material gathered for the film production of "GI Joe." A handsome copy signed by Miller on the title page.
Seller: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts, Sheffield, MA, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. SITUATION NORMAL. Reynal & Hitchcock, NY, 1944.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, first prnt. Signed by Miller on the title page. Chipped dustjacket. Very Good condition in a Good dustjacket with an archival cover. Miller's first book describing his experiences researching the war correspondence of Ernie Pyle in preparation for a film script.
Seller: REVERE BOOKS, abaa/ilab & ioba, Fernandina Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Arthur Miller. Situation Normal. (Signed First Edition). Reynal and Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. SIGNED by the author on the title page. Arthur Miller was tasked with compiling information about the writing of Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle and the wartime experiences of American infantrymen for director William A. Wellman's 1945 adaptation "The Story of G.I. Joe," although Miller's work would ultimately go unused for the film. Near Fine in an about Near Fine dust jacket. A couple of tiny splashes on the top right corner of the front board. Jacket lightly toned on the spine panel, with a few faint scuffs on the front and rear panels.
Seller: Royal Books, Inc., ABAA, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.
Miller, Arthur. SITUATION NORMAL - SIGNED. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1944.
Price: US$3750.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (21.25cm); yellow cloth, with titles stamped in black and red on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [x],179,[3]pp. Signed by Miller in blue ball-point pen on the title page. Spine ends gently nudged, some trivial wear to lower board edges, with a hint of sunning to upper board edges, and a faint, shallow stain to lower edge of rear cover; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), with two tiny tears at crown, and a faint vertical crease along left joint; a bright, very Near Fine example. Laid into this copy is an untitled seven-page carbon typescript on onionskin (8" x 10.5"), written by Miller in 1943, relating details about the book's conception; horizontal fold at center, staple holes at upper left corner, with two neat punctures along left margin; Very Good+. Attractive copy of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's first book, based on his experiences researching the war correspondence of journalist Ernie Pyle. The title derives from the widely-used military acronym slang "SNAFU" (Situation Normal: All Fucked Up), which translates to a bad situation that is a normal state of affairs. Miller was tasked by Hollywood to gather material for "an honest movie" about American GI's during the war, about their training, daily life, their hopes, dreams, and why they are fighting. Miller visited several Army camps, training, living, and interviewing soldiers and taking down the unvarnished truth of his discoveries. "I was the person fate picked out of Brooklyn to go among the soldiers and pick up enough facts, honest-to-God true facts, to make a soldier picture which soldiers could sit through until the end without once laughing in derision. A picture that would properly end all soldier pictures" (p.1). The film in question was William A. Wellman's The Story of G.I. Joe, to be adapted by Miller for Lester Cowan from Pyle's 1943 book This Is Your War. Miller's version was ultimately not produced, likely due to ideological differences and his communist sympathies. The typescript, written the year before Situation Normal was published, summarizes the conception of the book, detailing his early meetings with Ernie Pyle over how his work would be translated into film, and what they wanted to accomplish. "I bring up the idea that it would be a shame to show this massive canvas without reducing what is chaos to at least an inkling of purpose and order, and of course he agrees. But we both feel that to lard on ideology where there is no ideology would be to wrap the truth. You can't have soldiers talking about four freedoms when all they want is to go home. Myself I curse the press and the million textbooks that turn out the billions of words and never add up to an excuse for dying" (typescript, p.5). A superlative copy of an important debut. Crandell A1.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$4125.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (21.25cm); yellow cloth, with titles stamped in black and red on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [x],179,[3]pp. Signed by Miller in blue ball-point pen on the title page. Spine ends gently nudged, some trivial wear to lower board edges, with a hint of sunning to upper board edges, and a faint, shallow stain to lower edge of rear cover; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), with two tiny tears at crown, and a faint vertical crease along left joint; a bright, very Near Fine example. Laid into this copy is an untitled seven-page carbon typescript on onionskin (8" x 10.5"), written by Miller in 1943, relating details about the book's conception; horizontal fold at center, staple holes at upper left corner, with two neat punctures along left margin; Very Good+. Attractive copy of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's first book, based on his experiences researching the war correspondence of journalist Ernie Pyle. The title derives from the widely-used military acronym slang "SNAFU" (Situation Normal: All Fucked Up), which translates to a bad situation that is a normal state of affairs. Miller was tasked by Hollywood to gather material for "an honest movie" about American GI's during the war, about their training, daily life, their hopes, dreams, and why they are fighting. Miller visited several Army camps, training, living, and interviewing soldiers and taking down the unvarnished truth of his discoveries. "I was the person fate picked out of Brooklyn to go among the soldiers and pick up enough facts, honest-to-God true facts, to make a soldier picture which soldiers could sit through until the end without once laughing in derision. A picture that would properly end all soldier pictures" (p.1). The film in question was William A. Wellman's The Story of G.I. Joe, to be adapted by Miller for Lester Cowan from Pyle's 1943 book This Is Your War. Miller's version was ultimatley not produced, likely due to ideological differences and his leftist political leanings. The typescript, written the year before Situation Normal was published, summarizes the conception of the book, detailing his early meetings with Ernie Pyle over how his work would be translated into film, and what they wanted to accomplish. "I bring up the idea that it would be a shame to show this massive canvas without reducing what is chaos to at least an inkling of purpose and order, and of course he agrees. But we both feel that to lard on ideology where there is no ideology would be to wrap the truth. You can't have soldiers talking about four freedoms when all they want is to go home. Myself I curse the press and the million textbooks that turn out the billions of words and never add up to an excuse for dying" (typescript, p.5). A superlative copy of an important debut.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.