London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, (1963). First British edition, 1st impression. 8vo. 248 pp. Original cyan blue cloth-covered boards, stamped in gold, red, in original unclipped (21s) dust-jacket. Faint handling, rubbing and shelf wear to jacket. Trivial toning to edges, spine. Protected in archival mylar. Book with mild forward lean. Light handling & shelf wear. Page edges mildly vintage toned. Interior is clean and unmarked. A very nice copy. 

Dust Jacket: Near Fine

Hardcover: Near Fine

“The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mostly concerns his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his self-made bat "Wonderboy”. Based upon the bizarre shooting incident and subsequent comeback of Philadelphia Phillies player Eddie Waitkus, the story of Roy Hobbs takes some poetic license and embellishes what was truly a strange, but memorable, account of a career lost too soon.”