{"product_id":"to-2026-043","title":"The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder (INSCRIBED)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMILLER, Henry.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Smile at the Foot of the Ladder.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED.\u003c\/strong\u003e New York: Duell, Sloan \u0026amp; Pearce, 1948.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInscribed by Henry Miller on the front free endpaper: \"From Henry Miller with deep appreciation of so many kindnesses \/ To — Harry and Margaret \/ 8\/27\/48.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOctavo. 124 pp. Designed by Merle Armitage; prefatory essay \"About Henry Miller\" by Edwin Corle. Quarter black cloth over printed paper-covered boards, top edge red, in the publisher's orange-striped pictorial dust jacket. Cloth separated at the rear joint; the dust jacket with staining to the front flap and edge wear; a fair-to-good copy of an uncommon inscribed first edition. Shifreen \u0026amp; Jackson A66a.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Miller considered \u003cem\u003eThe Smile at the Foot of the Ladder\u003c\/em\u003e the most peculiar of all the stories he had written — a short fable of Auguste, a clown who could make audiences laugh but longed to give them a lasting joy. The text originated in a 1938 commission from the painter Fernand Léger, who asked Miller to write an accompaniment to a planned graphic cycle of clown and circus drawings; Léger ultimately set the text aside as unsuitable, and Miller arranged independent publication with Duell, Sloan \u0026amp; Pearce.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1948 edition is the true first, in a striking Merle Armitage design, illustrated throughout with reproductions of clown and circus artworks by Chagall, Klee, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Dunoyer de Segonzac, and other masters, together with a facsimile of two pages of Miller's corrected typescript. Miller wrote it during his Big Sur years — he had settled on the California coast in 1944 and would remain until 1962 — the period that also produced \u003cem\u003eBig Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch\u003c\/em\u003e. This copy carries Miller's own warm, dated inscription, presenting the book five months after publication \"with deep appreciation of so many kindnesses.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU\u003c\/strong\u003e TO-2026-043\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Miller, Henry","offers":[{"title":"Fair","offer_id":46459951874209,"sku":"TO-2026-043","price":300.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0729\/7001\/0785\/files\/TO-2026-043_01_b458df60-3007-4365-b28a-2f39422abc00.jpg?v=1783744065","url":"https:\/\/twoorangesbooks.com\/products\/to-2026-043","provider":"Two Oranges Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}