March, Joseph Moncure. The Set-up. Covici-Friede, New York, 1928.

Price: US$60.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: New York: Covici-Friede, 1928. March (1899-1971) had an early career at "The New Yorker" magazine, then worked as a screenwriter. This epic poem about an ageing African-American boxer was the basis for the 1949 film directed by Robert Wise (the book is dedicated to Sue Wise). Many books have been made into films but Quercus believes few of them were from poetry! The film eliminated the racial issues, and March himself rewrote it 4 decades later to purge it of anti-Semitism. This is a Very Good copy of a Later Printing (the 5th) of the First Trade Edition (there is a signed and limited edition as well). Interestingly, it took only two months to go to 5 printings. Yellow cloth binding with chocolate-brown stylized figure of the boxer. Clean text; 184 pages. Light bumping; very mild soil. Lacking the dustjacket. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Later Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket.

Seller: Quercus Rare Books, Chico, CA, U.S.A.

Joseph Moncure March. The Set Up. Covici Friede, New York, 1928.

Price: US$200.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: a good to fair copy, with a damping on the spine oatmeal grass cloth, the batik boards are fine, the book had seen some wavy dampness, quite old now, the rest is fine. no rare dj. The illustrations from King are fine and book could use a mylar dust jacket, else very good. the original spine label is fine this book was limited to only 275 copies signed by the author, J. M. Marsh. signed to MS Patterson and is the basis and inspiration for the famous film noir, The Set Up, starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Trotter. ca. 1948 and directed by Robert Wise. Robert Ryan was Ivy League and Intercollegiate heavyweight champ at Dartmouth back in 1929. However, the protagonist of this Set Up is an Afro american fighter. in the form of a narrative poem. A Classic.

Seller: Hirschfeld Galleries, Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A.

March, Joseph Moncure (1899-1977). THE SET-UP.. New York: Covici Friede, (1928), 1928.

Price: US$350.00 + shipping

Description: SIGNED hardcover first edition - Limited, signed first edition. A story in verse, set in the seamy and brutal boxing underworld, of an an aging Black boxer and ex-con, Pansy Jones, who is supposed to throw a fight, but when he realizes he has double-crossed by his manager, he revolts and wins the fight, only to be chased to a grisly end. "Pansy had the stuff, but his skin was brown; And he never got a chance at the middleweight crown." An immediate bestseller when it was first published this was also the basis of the award winning 1949 Robert Wise noir film (in fact, this book was dedicated to Sue Wise) although the impact of the film was weakened by removing the racial element and making the boxer - played by Robert Ryan - white. This limited edition, #119 of only 275 copies, is numbered and SIGNED by the author is illustrated by Alexander King. 184 pp. Very good overall in red and black decorative paper covered boards with a beige cloth spine, paper label on spine - a bit of wear to the edges of the boards, inscription on first blank page, but a tight and sturdy copy.

Seller: Bookfever, IOBA (Volk & Iiams), Ione, CA, U.S.A.

March, Joseph Moncure. The Set-Up [Signed]. Covici Friede, NY, 1928.

Price: US$450.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: Signed, limited edition of this quintessential Jazz Age narrative poem by an early New Yorker editor and author of another of the era's signature poems, The Wild Party (1926). Written in terse rhyming couplets, The Set-Up concerns an aging Black boxer, Pansy Jones, who is coerced into throwing a fight against a lesser opponent. Double-crossed by his manager, Jones revolts and wins the fight, only to be chased to his presumed death on the New York subway tracks. March was reportedly inspired to write the poem after a viewing of Negro Boxer, a 1927 painting by James Chapin. The Set-Up became a best- seller on publication, going through numerous early printings, and was later adapted into the 1949 Robert Wise film noir of the same name, although Wise chose to eliminate the poem’s racial commentary by making the main character white. This limited first edition, handsomely illustrated by Alexander King, is signed and hand-numbered by March on a limitation page at front. First edition. Limited to 275 signed and hand-numbered copies, of which this is No. 156. Octavo (6.5 x 10 in.); 184pp.; patterned paper boards backed with tan cloth; paper spine label printed in red. About near fine, with mild bumping to the top corners and moderate shelfwear resulting in some splitting and loss of paper at the tips and along the bottoms of the boards. Previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown. Lacking the original publisher’s slipcase.

Seller: Dividing Line Books, Ridgewood, NY, U.S.A.

MARCH, Joseph Moncure. THE SET-UP [SIGNED]. Covici Friede, New York, 1928.

Price: US$595.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: FIRST LIMITED EDITION of 275 copies. This is No. 161/275. Signed by Joseph Moncure March on the limitation page. Original tan linen cloth backstrip over bright red, black and yellow art-deco style patterned paper boards. Yellow printed paper spine label and yellow endpapers. With the illustrations of Alexander King. Fine, very bright and fresh copy. No name, bookplate or other markings. Housed in a worn publisher's slipcase. By the author of The Wild Party. Scarce in the limited printing. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall

Seller: RON RAMSWICK BOOKS, IOBA, CARLSBAD, CA, U.S.A.

MARCH, Joseph Moncure.. The Set-Up.. New York: Covici Friede, 1928, 1928.

Price: US$1098.49 + shipping

Description: Signed limited edition, number 91 of 275 copies signed by the author, illustrated by Alexander King, and bound in quarter cloth. March's story of an African-American prize fighter, perhaps inspired by the real-life example of Jack Johnson, is an acute portrayal of race relations during the Roaring Twenties. A trade edition was also published in 1928. The 1949 film noir adaptation, directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter, controversially changed the protaganist to a white man and moved away from the poem's tragic ending. "The sense of bleak poetry, however. remains intact" (Field). Amanda J. Field, Sucker Punch: Boxing Films of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, 2023. Octavo. Original decorative boards, brown cloth backstrip, spine label lettered in red, yellow endpapers, edges untrimmed. Frontispiece and 3 similar plates all by Alexander King. A little staining on spine, boards bright, plates fresh, a few gatherings unopened, closed tears to title page and next leaf, losses at head of p. 156 (just touching text) and final blank: a very good copy.

Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom