Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard, 1959.
Price: US$14.00 + shipping
Description: New York. 1959. Vanguard. 1st American Edition. Very Good. No Dustjacket. 215 pages. hardcover. keywords: Literature Caribbean Trinidad England India. FROM THE PUBLISHER - Here is the astringent wit of an Aubrey Mennen turned loose in the rich landscape of a Caribbean isle. V. S. Naipaul is an extraordinary storyteller - a voice from Trinidad of today, as contemporary and exciting as Calypso - and in THE MYSTIC MASSEUR he has created one of the most amusing and fascinating characters in contemporary fiction, Ganesh Rasumair. If Ganesh had not been so unappreciated as a schoolteacher, he would never have become a masseur. If he had not lacked talent as an ordinary masseur, he would never have blossomed into a mystic one; and, of course, if he had not lived in Trinidad, at first an obscure member and finally an ornament of the Hindu community there, none of the things that happened to him would have happened in quite that way, for Trinidad, seen with the eye of humor, is a most surprising place. This is a story of success: a success that resulted, or so it seems, from inspired detachment. Achievement was not something at which Ganesh aimed but something that overtook him in oblique and unexpected ways, often appearing at first sight to be a setback but always advancing his career. Mr. Naipaul, who himself comes of an Indian family settled in Trinidad, writes with delicate precision and keeps a poker face. He occasionally permits himself a raised eyebrow and a look of wonder at the charming absurdity of human beings, but it is his reader, not he, who laughs aloud. inventory #22009
Seller: zenosbooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., 1959.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Hardcover with DJ. Black cloth over boards with gold lettering over the spine. Orange DJ is black lettering and a black white and blue illustration on the front cover. DJ is still clean but rubbed, and there are some tears along the edges. Edges and corners of the DJ are also a bit bent and bumped. No date on the title page. Copyright date is 1959. 215 pages. The binding is strong and square. The corners are bumped, edges rubbed. Covers a bit rubbed as well. Pages inside are perhaps a bit evenly toned but are clean and unmarked. This was V.S. Naipaul's first book.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
NAIPAUL, V.S.. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR.. Vanguard, New York. 1959., 1959.
Price: US$26.73 + shipping
Description: 8vo, 214pp. A very good hardback copy in edgeworn dust jacket. Previous owner's signature.
Seller: Sainsbury's Books Pty. Ltd., Camberwell, VIC, Australia
V.S. Naipaul. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, 1959.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First American edition, first printing of Naipaul's debut novel, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1959. Publisher's original black cloth boards, orange decoration to front, spine lettered in blue and orange; pp. xii, [2], 7-215. An about near fine copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains sturdy and square, minimal wear to boards, light staining to top edge of text block. Small price sticker removed from flyleaf, else internally clean and fine. The dust jacket shows traces of edgewear with a hint of sunning to spine. A very nice copy, protected in archival mylar.
Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
V S Naipaul. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959. 1st Ed. hardcover. Very Good/Very Good 8vo, black cloth binding with pink lettering and decoration, top edge lightly soiled, light coffee mark on two pages, DJ spine slightly faded, 1" tear taped from rear on top rear panel of DJ, book is tight and straight, a novel, 215 pages" .
Seller: Stone Soup Books, Camden, ME, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. Mystic Masseur. Vanguard Press, New York, NY, 1959.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Hardbound Good/Poor., DJ 8vo, 215, General wear to covers. Bottom edge back cover discolored from where DJ piece is missing. Prev. owner's name/date front endpaper. DJ is very damaged. DJ has several large tears and a large bottom piece missing from the back panel. DJ is not price clipped.
Seller: Table of Contents, Omaha, NE, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Book is in excellent condition under a lightly worn jacket with shallow chipping at spine ends and one corner chip (see picture) otherwise basically intact with $3.50 price. A very crisp and clean copy of the author's delightful first book.
Seller: MARIE BOTTINI, BOOKSELLER, Cotati, CA, U.S.A.
V. S. Naipaul. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, 1959.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: VG/G. First American Edition. First printing with no other printings listed. The book is tight with solid hinges and clean black boards. Light crease to spine head. The textblock is clean with no writing, bookplate, or markings and not BCE, ex-library, or remaindered. Pages lightly age-toned. The dust jacket is unclipped ($3.50) with a price tag shadow to the upper front panel, chipping to extremities and mid-spine. Protected in a new Brodart Mylar cover. 214 pages. 5½ x 8¼". Author's first book. In colonial Trinidad, a frustrated writer of Indian descent rises from an impoverished background to become a successful politician on the back of his dubious talent as a 'mystic' masseur ? a masseur who can cure illnesses.
Seller: Armadillo Alley Books, Carrollton, TX, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$56.38 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: A nice copy of the first edition, first printing. Text is tight and clean. Lettering and decoration bright and unflaked. Book is Fine except for small area of ink pen bleed to bottom edge from front pastedown through to page 30 and pages 191 to 210. In a Near Fine -/Very Good + dust jacket w/two short closed tears to top edge, tiny chip to rear panel top edge, light fade to spine, light wear to spine crown, light soiling to rear panel. No previous owners' names. No remainder mark or spray. Price Clipped. Not ex-lib. Not a Book Club Edition. This is a nice copy at a very good price. Compare and see. Photos sent upon request. Accurate Descriptions/Quality Books/Unmatched Prices
Seller: Novel Ending Books, Franklin, TN, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, Inc., New York, 1959.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good plus, first edition book in very good dust jacket. Black cloth covered boards with pale peach illustration on front board panel, light peach and blue lettering on spine. Boards are clean, lettering is crisp. Horizontal creasing across head of board spine. External page edges are slightly age-toned and with faint foxing. Text block is internally clean and tight, appears unread. Dust jacket is lightly soiled overall, faint staining along lower edge of back jacket panel. Spine is faded. All folds are creased and scuffed but not rubbed through except for fore-edge and spine corners. Head of jacket spine is chipped and with a 1/2" closed diagonal tear and a 1/2" closed vertical tear along the back fold. Edge at tail of jacket spine has small chips and corners are rubbed. Upper fore-edge corner tips are rubbed and with loss of up to 1/4". Upper edge of inside front flap has black (crayon?) writing. Price of $3.50 is intact in the lower right corner. Please use close-up options for best inspection and in support of condition descriptions. Additional photos available at your request. Except for the UK and Canada, international destinations may require alternative methods of delivery and will result in additional shipping costs.
Seller: R & G Bliss Books, Excelsior, MN, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, Inc, New York, 1959.
Price: US$80.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First US edition, hardcover, has a mild skew to the binding, faint sunning to the spine and head, a touch of edgewear to the covers, and very slight bumps to spine ends and cover corners, otherwise a solid, tight VG copy in an unclipped Near VG dust jacket, which has light bumps with very shallow chips and short tears to spine ends and corners, slight sunning to the spine, mild rubbing with a couple faint smudges to the covers, and a touch of edgewear. Jacket is wrapped in a removable Mylar cover.
Seller: Fahrenheit's Books, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
NAIPAUL, V. S.. Miguel Street. Vanguard Press, Inc, New York, 1959.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8vo. Pp. 222. Dark yellow cloth, titles stamped in red and black on the spine, ochre endpapers: just a suggestion of spine lean; ink check mark on front free endpaper. Leaves are crisp and bright, binding tight. In the three-color illustrated dust jacket with author photo portrait on the rear flap. Edge-wear with light biodepredation; spine just a tad darkened. Price $3.95 intact on the front flap. A bright, presentable copy. Linked stories set in Naipaul's native Trinidad, written prior to, but published following, his 1957 first novel, Mystic Masseur. The collection enhanced Naipaul's acclaim as an emerging voice, a writer of restraint, of vivid people and settings, of universal truths amid the poverty and exoticism of a Port of Spain slum street. The dust jacket, with a brilliant, uncredited illustration by Stephen Russ, is preserved in a clear, removable archival sleeve.
Seller: Long Brothers Fine & Rare Books, ABAA, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$101.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American Edition of the author's first novel, set in colonial Trinidad, where Naipaul was born. 8vo: xii,[2],7-215,[1]pp. Publisher's black cloth, spine lettered in French blue and mid-brown, upper cover with vignette of the mystic masseur; illustrated dust jacket, priced $3.50. Tightly bound (apparently unread) and clean throughout, with bottom edges very lightly rubbed; better than Near Fine jacket, lightly rubbed to head and heal of spine panel, which is lightened a degree or two. Awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1958, a year following its publication in London, by André Deutsch. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
NAIPAUL, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American edition. Front flyleaf has faint tanning, else a fine copy in about very good dust jacket with modest wear at extremities with a couple of tiny chips.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$143.75 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 215 pp. White endpapers, with previous owner's name on ffep. Black cloth with pink titles. Corners bumped. Orange illustrated DJ, not price-clipped. Faded spine, small chips, light wear along the edegs. VG+/VG Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: J. Wyatt Books, Ottawa, ON, Canada
NAIPAUL, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard, New York, 1959.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American edition. Fine in slighty spine-sunned else near fine dustwrapper. A very nice copy of the author's first book.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
V. S. Naipaul. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American Edition. Clean, square and tight. Pages are unmarked. Jacket is bright with minor wear to spine and very slight black line to top of spine. Otherwise a truly beautiful copy of the acclaimed first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning writer.
Seller: Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books , Toronto, ON, Canada
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$195.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 215 pages. First American edition, first printing. His first novel with an introduction by Lord David Cecil. Fine book in a fine dust jacket with a touch of fading to the spine. A beautiful copy!
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard, New York, 1959.
Price: US$195.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Fine in lightly edgeworn, unclipped ($3.50), very good+ dustjacket with couple closed edgetears (mylar protected). Quite a nice copy of first American edition of author's first book/novel,
Seller: Tony Power, Books, North Vancouver, BC, Canada
NAIPAUL, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur.. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Description: 215 pp. 8vo, original cloth in dust jacket. First American edition. A fine copy in a price-clipped jacket with the slightest of sunning to the backstrip. Author's first book.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard, New York, 1959.
Price: US$225.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First US in non price clipped dj ($3.50) of Naipaul's scarce first book; book clean and bright; dj has chipping to edges and top back cover; abrasion/sticker removal to top of dj spine affects the "ti" of Mystic; soiling/abrasions to back dj cover; dj cover clean and bright with slight chipping and closed tear to top Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: Cornelius Muhilly Rare Books, Kansas City, MO, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard Press New York 1959, 1959.
Price: US$234.00 + shipping
Description: 1st edition hardback with dust jacket Nice copy octavo 215pp., Nice copy in like unclipped dust jacket with minimal sunning at spine
Seller: Andrew Barnes Books / Military Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard, New York, 1959.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: The first American edition, published by Vanguard in 1959. The author's first novel. A fine example of the book. Bright attractive near fine dust jacket with a light trace of rubbing. Dust jacket priced at $3.50.
Seller: The Reluctant Bookseller, Albany, NY, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: First American edition. xii, [2], 7-215, [1] pp. 8vo. The first American edition of Naipaul's first novel. Publisher's black cloth. Near fine in very good unclipped dust jacket, with some light edgewear and fading and small scuff to spine
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V.S.. The Mystic Masseur.. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A Fine copy in charcoal grey cloth, in a Fine brown and blue dustwrapper, price-clipped. Small label shadow to corner of front endpaper. Very slight wear to spine points. 215pp. The Nobel Prize winning author's first novel. Q05434
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
V S Naipaul. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. The Vanguard Press, New York - first US edition, 1959.
Price: US$334.15 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: hardcover, 8.25" x 5.5", & dust jacket 216 pages SIGNED BY AUTHOR ON TITLE PAGE. Black cloth-bound boards with blue & orange type to spine, & front drawing. First novel by renowned author, now increasingly hard to find. Delicate writing, astute observations, a joy to read. Signed scarce copy @ low price Jacket edges with tears, gaps & rough label removal from spine; inside jacket has irredeemable staining. Bottom edges at spine carries 1" of same stain, not effecting text. Front & rear endpapers similarly stained. Defects reflected in lower price. G/FAIR
Seller: Book Orphanage, McCrae, VIC, Australia
V.S.Naipaul. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$375.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition of this early work by Naipaul. book is clean throughout with no interior marks. Jacket shows wear to edges and there is a small 1/2 by 1/4 inch piece missing from the bottom of the front panel near the spine. There is slight chipping to the top and bottom edges of the jacket at the spine and some color fading to the top edge of the front and rear panel. Jacket is now housed in a Brodart cover to prevent further damage. A nice copy of a hard to find novel by this now famous author.
Seller: BDC Books, Stratford, ON, Canada
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard Press, 1959.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: As New
Description: First Edition, First Printing. Not price-clipped ($3.95 price intact). Published by Vanguard Press, 1959. Octavo. Black cloth boards stamped in pink. Signed by author on title page (flat signed not inscribed). Book is like new; clean with no writing or names. Sharp corners and spine straight. Binding tight and pages crisp. Dust jacket is like new with light shelf wear and small nicks. A very scarce signed copy of Naipaul's first book. Book placed in custom acetate protector. 215 pages. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions or if you would like a photo. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Southampton, New York. We Buy Books! Individual titles, libraries, collections. Message us if you have books to sell!
Seller: Southampton Books, Southampton, NY, U.S.A.
V. S. Naipaul. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. The Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$900.00 + shipping
Description: Fine in a Fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of important the author's first book. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall.
Seller: Rare Book Cellar, Pomona, NY, U.S.A.
NAIPAUL, V. S.. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. NEW YORK NY VANGUARD PRESS (THE) PUB 1959., 1959.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: FINE IN NEAR FINE DUST JACKET. FIRST US EDITION OF AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE TITLE PAGE BOOK IS FINE WITHOUT ANY MARKS TO THE BINDING OR THE TEXT. D.J. IS AABOUT FINE WITH SOME MODEST WEAR/RUB AT THE TOP OF THE SPINE PANEL, AND IS NOT PRICE-CLIPPED. A BEAUTIFUL CLEAN, BRIGHT, UNFADED COPY WITH NO REMAINDER MARK. FIRST EDITION. Binding is HARDCOVER.
Seller: JOHN LUTSCHAK BOOKS, BURLINGTON, WI, U.S.A.
Naipaul, V. S.. The Mystic Masseur. Vanguard Press, New York, 1959.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 8vo, charcoal cloth Advance Review Copy, with Review Slip and glossy drawing laid in. Author's first book. Extraodinarily fresh condition.
Seller: Thomas J. Joyce And Company, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.