Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Charles Willeford. Cockfighter. Crown Publishers, 1972.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First hardcover edition, first printing, signed by Willeford to the flyleaf. Preceded by the 1962 paperback original, with slightly revised text, the novel served as the basis for the 1974 film, "Born to Kill," starring Warren Oates, and directed by Monte Hellman. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972. Publisher's original orange cloth boards with red title to spine; pp. 274. A very good copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket. Binding is sturdy and square, boards show light rubbing and soiling, internally clean. The dust jacket remains bright and vivid, showing just a touch of shelfwear, protected in archival mylar.
Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$975.00 + shipping
Description: First hardcover edition, preceded by a paperback original published by Chicago Paperback House in 1962. INSCRIBED by the author on the front endpaper, with typical dry wit: "To Palmer [and] Marge Carlson - / Your determination in getting this book almost-almost-matches Frank Mansfield's. My warmest personal regards. Yours, / Charles Willeford / 17 Feb 1973." Scarce signed. The "Frank Mansfield" to whom Willeford refers is the narrator of "Cockfighter," a disgraced gamecock trainer who has taken a vow of silence (which, at the start of the novel, has lasted over two years) until he wins the elusive Cockfighter of the Year Award. The author's uncommon second hardcover title. Basis for the 1972 Monte Hellman film, for which Willeford wrote the screenplay and played a key supporting role, starring Warren Oates in a little-known but brilliant performance as Mansfield. Fine and unread in a Very Good only dust jacket. Owner name matching the inscription on the front pastedown. Jacket is chipped and rubbed, with light toning to the spine, and a sticker shadow to the rear panel.
Seller: Royal Books, Inc., ABAA, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.