Franklin library leather edition of John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany," Frontispiece by Cary Henrie, a First edition, Personally SIGNED by JOHN IRVING, one of the SIGNED FIRST EDITION SOCIETY series, published in 1985. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has decorative paper end leaves, a satin book maker, Symth-sewn binding, acid-free paper, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition.  John Winslow Irving, who was born in 1942 as John Wallace Blunt, is an American novelist and screenwriter. He grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire, where his stepfather was a Philip Exeter Academy faculty member.  Irving was a student athlete in the wrestling program. Irving's father, whom he never met, was shot down in Burma in July 1943 but somehow survived. Owen Meany believes that he is a Chosen One; that his life is following a Divine Plan, a narrative authored by God.  To Owen Meany everything that happens to him happens for a reason.  In the summer of 1952, Owen and his best friend, JOHN WHEELWRIGHT, are eleven years old; they are playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire, when Owen hits a foul ball that strikes and kills his best friend's mother.  Wheelwright is an illegitimate child and when his mother dies John realizes that he will never learn the identity of his father, but Owen is convinced thatGod will intervene.  543 pages.  I offer combined shipping.