8vo. Original red cloth-backed red boards, gilt-lettered on spine (front joint leaned and starting); in unrestored unclipped dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION OF IRVING'S FIRST BOOK. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR to Alex MacPhail, the photographer that took the image of Irving that appears on the rear panel of this dust jacket. Irving inscribes the work in German and jokingly signs it "Johannes". Setting Free the Bears is based on Irving's time studying at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, written between 1965 and 1967. Irving submitted the original manuscript as his thesis at the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop in 1967, which he expanded for publication. [Laid in:] Publisher's prospectus laid in.