{"title":"Literature: 22 New Acquisitions for March","description":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome back to our monthly instalment of twenty-two new acquisitions. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hamilton-patrick-the-unknown-assailant","title":"HAMILTON, Patrick. Unknown Assailant.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHAMILTON, Patrick.\u003c\/strong\u003e Unknown Assailant. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Constable\u003c\/i\u003e. 1955.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in silver to spine, in the dustwrapper designed by Gross-André, priced 11\/6 net to front flap; pp. [6], 182, [4 (advertisements)]; fading to cloth and pushing to spine tips, a few light white marks to lower edge of front panel, wrapper variously rubbed, nicked and torn, with loss to spine tips and corners, low quality paper evenly toned, capital B handwritten in ink to upper edge of front free endpaper; a very good copy in a good, vibrantly coloured wrapper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, first printing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last of the three Hamilton novels (though a free-standing story) to feature the heartless swindler Ernest Ralph Gorse, a character thought to be based on the real-life murderer Neville Heath, hanged in 1946.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124678\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667178873,"sku":"2124678","price":100.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124678.jpg?v=1774028314"},{"product_id":"baldwin-james-the-fire-next-time","title":"BALDWIN, James. The Fire Next Time.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBALDWIN, James.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Fire Next Time. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Michael Joseph\u003c\/i\u003e. 1963.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to spine, typographic dust-jacket designed by Paul Bacon with the printed price of 13s 6d to front flap; pp. 112; stain visible only to reverse of jacket spine, only very light wear to edges of jacket, slight bowing to boards, very minor off-setting to endpapers; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA bright, sharp first UK edition, first printing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten for the one-hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, \u003ci\u003eThe Fire Next Time\u003c\/i\u003e brings together the two essays, “My Dungeon Shook” and “Down at the Cross”, in a seminal collection which confronts the injustices of American racism and serves as a warning for the future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124675\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667244409,"sku":"2124675","price":85.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124675.jpg?v=1774028340"},{"product_id":"mitford-nancy-the-blessing","title":"MITFORD, Nancy. The Blessing.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMITFORD, Nancy.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Blessing. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Hamish Hamilton\u003c\/i\u003e. 1951.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s dark blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, illustrated dust jacked designed by Cecil Beaton with the printed price of 10s. 6d. to front flap; pp. 270, [2 (blank)]; tape mark to front free endpaper, some spotting to top edge and a couple of spots to fore edge, slight wear to jacket at crown, but otherwise extremely bright; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, first impression.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet in Paris after the Second World War, Grace Allingham (“a typical English woman” \u003ci\u003eblurb\u003c\/i\u003e) is struggling in her married life. Her troubles are not helped by her son, Sigi, “the blessing” of the title. Sigi is constantly plotting against his parents in a bid for their attention, and to keep them at odds with each other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wonderful dust-jacket is designed by Cecil Beaton, a close friend of the author. A lovely copy, with an unusually vibrant example of the jacket.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124647\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667604857,"sku":"2124647","price":200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124647.jpg?v=1774025646"},{"product_id":"jonson-ben-inigo-jones-illustrator-the-masque-of-queens","title":"JONSON, Ben; Inigo JONES ( illustrator ). The Masque of Queens.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJONSON, Ben; Inigo JONES (\u003ci\u003eillustrator\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e The Masque of Queens. \u003ci\u003eLondon: The King’s Printers\u003c\/i\u003e. 1930.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Original full red vellum, gilt lettering to spine, gilt decoration to front cover, top edge gilt, others untrimmed; pp. 39, [65], with 20 plates reproducing drawings by Inigo Jones and a facsimile of Jonson’s manuscript; boards gently bowed, small abrasion to rear cover, spine ends and corners a little rubbed, traces of glue from bookplate to pastedown, light offset to free endpapers; a very good, clean copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLimited edition, no. 21 of 350 copies, including a facsimile of Jonson’s original manuscript and reproductions of Inigo Jones’s costume designs.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Masque of Queens, Celebrated from the House of Fame\u003c\/i\u003e is among the earlier works in the series of courtly entertainments composed by Ben Jonson (1572-1637) for the House of Stuart. Conceived as a spectacle of music, dance, and elaborate costume as much as a theatrical text, the masque presents twelve virtuous queens triumphing over the disruptive forces of twelve disorderly witches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts first performance at Whitehall Palace on 2 February 1609 featured Queen Anne of Denmark (r. 1603-1619) and her ladies of the court in the principal roles, including a notable appearance by Lucy Harington Russell, Countess of Bedford (1581-1627), and involved over twenty performers together with a substantial musical ensemble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis edition includes a facsimile of Jonson’s manuscript preserved in the King’s Library at the British Library (\u003ci\u003eRoyal MS 18 A XLV\u003c\/i\u003e), together with reproductions of costume designs by the architect and stage designer Inigo Jones (1573-1652) from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124646\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667834233,"sku":"2124646","price":250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124646b_bf52c3c9-eb1e-49b7-8314-b215994c15b6.jpg?v=1774041585"},{"product_id":"greene-graham-a-burnt-out-case","title":"GREENE, Graham. A Burnt Out-Case.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGREENE, Graham.\u003c\/strong\u003e A Burnt Out-Case. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Heinemann\u003c\/i\u003e. 1961.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in silver to spine, illustrated dust-jacket designed by Lacey Everett with the printed price of 16s to front flap; pp. [8], 256; slight wear to jacket edges, tape marks to pastedown, endpaper and jacket flaps, some light and infrequent marks throughout, slight shelfwear, toning and a couple of spots to edges of textblock, otherwise a bright example of the jacket; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst English edition, first impression.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreene’s poignant novel follows a stranger who arrives at a Leper Colony. After being labelled as a ‘burnt-out case’, he begins to forge connections with those around him, and slowly begins to heal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe UK edition was preceded by the Swedish translation published by P.A. Norstedt \u0026amp; Söners, Stockholm (1960).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWobbe A41a.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124566\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667899769,"sku":"2124566","price":225.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124566.jpg?v=1774028402"},{"product_id":"eberhart-m-g-hasty-wedding","title":"EBERHART, M. G. Hasty Wedding.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEBERHART, M. G.\u003c\/strong\u003e Hasty Wedding. \u003ci\u003eLondon: The Crime Club by Collins\u003c\/i\u003e. 1939.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in black to spine, illustrated dust-jacket with printed price of 7s. 6d. to front flap; pp. 251, [4 (publisher’s advertisements)], [1 (blank)]; a little sunning to spine and some scuffing to white of jacket’s back panel, very slight wear to edges of jacket, two neat tape repairs to reverse, but overall a very bright jacket, some light spotting to edges of textblock, slight pushing to base of spine; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst UK edition, first impression.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDorcas Whipple is a wealthy heiress, but despite her comfortable position, she’s in emotional turmoil. The novel begins the night before her wedding, and she is torn between her love for the “ne’er-do-well” Ronald Drew and her respectable fiancée Jevan Locke. After meeting with Ronald for a final goodbye, Dorcas believed it would be the last she would hear of him, but the following morning’s papers are smeared with news of murder…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe UK edition was published the year after the US edition which appeared in 1938, published by Doubleday. This copy has an especially bright and beautiful dust-jacket, its design emblematic of the golden age of crime fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHubin, p.128\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124565\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881667965305,"sku":"2124565","price":975.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124565.jpg?v=1774025680"},{"product_id":"lang-andrew-translator-aucassin-and-nicolette","title":"LANG, Andrew ( translator ). Aucassin and Nicolette.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLANG, Andrew (\u003ci\u003etranslator\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Aucassin and Nicolette. \u003ci\u003eLondon: David Nutt\u003c\/i\u003e. 1887.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Contemporary red crushed morocco by Riviere \u0026amp; Son, spine lettered in gilt, elaborately gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, original wrappers with decorative border bound at end; pp. [4], xx, 70, [2], with engraved frontispiece by P. J. Hood; extremities gently rubbed; the odd mark, else a near fine copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, one of 550 copies (of which 500 for sale) on Japanese paper, of Lang’s translation of this French medieval romance, in a fine contemporary binding.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten in Old French by an anonymous author in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, \u003ci\u003eAucassin and Nicolette\u003c\/i\u003e is the only known example of a \u003ci\u003echantefable\u003c\/i\u003e (literally “sung story”), a hybrid form combining prose and verse. The text survives in a single manuscript, discovered and published in 1752 by French medievalist Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye. A playful parody of the medieval romance, it recounts the tale of Aucassin, son of Count Garin of Beaucaire. His love for Nicolette, a Saracen captive raised as a daughter by one of the count’s vassals, led him to forsake chivalry and even to refuse to defend his father’s lands against attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndrew Lang (1844-1912), was a Scottish anthropologist, classicist, and historian, best known for his celebrated collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Fairy Book\u003c\/i\u003e (1889). His translation of \u003ci\u003eAucassin and Nicolette\u003c\/i\u003e appeared in the same year as that of the English poet and translator Francis William Bourdillon (1852-1921), published by Kegan Paul, Trench \u0026amp; Co. \u003cstrong\u003eLang’s rendering was particularly admired by Ezra Pound,\u003c\/strong\u003e who remarked that “Lang was born in order that he might translate it perfectly […] bringing into his English all the gay, sunlit charm of the original.” (p. 84).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSee Pound,\u003c\/i\u003e Spirit of Romance\u003ci\u003e, 1910.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124441\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881668227449,"sku":"2124441","price":300.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124441b.jpg?v=1774041620"},{"product_id":"jansson-tove-author-and-illustrator-moominvalley-in-november","title":"JANSSON, Tove ( author and illustrator ). Moominvalley in November.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJANSSON, Tove (\u003ci\u003eauthor and illustrator\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Moominvalley in November. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Ernest Benn Limited.\u003c\/i\u003e 1973.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s dark orange cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, second printing illustrated dust jacket; pp. 175, [1, (printer’s colophon)], with in-text and full-page illustrations throughout the novel; creases to edges of jacket with a few small closed tears repaired neatly with archival tape, price-clipped, very slight pushing to crown and base of spine, slight bumping to corners, internally clean and bright; very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSecond printing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is autumn in Moominvalley, and the family are preparing for their winter hibernation. However, there are some that are not ready for the cold months that lie ahead, and they attempt to seek out the Moomin family for help. However, when they arrive, they find the house is deserted, so they decide to settle down and wait for their return.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124343\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881669177721,"sku":"2124343","price":220.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124343.jpg?v=1774025718"},{"product_id":"bourdain-anthony-kitchen-confidential","title":"BOURDAIN, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e“Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino”\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBOURDAIN, Anthony.\u003c\/strong\u003e Kitchen Confidential. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Bloomsbury\u003c\/i\u003e. 2000.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in red to spine, photographic dust-jacket with printed price of £16.99 to front flap; pp. x, 307, [3]; some toning to jacket spine with a little chip to crown, base corners and head and tail of spine a little bumped; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst UK edition, first impression, signed by the author to the title page in black ink.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBourdain’s tell-all memoir that reminisces on his first oyster to pot-washing, and everything in between. Cooking carried him across the world, from Tokyo, to Paris, and New York. His tales in the kitchen are wild and unpredictable, yet always infused with passion for cooking. As the food critic A. A. Gill observes, \u003ci\u003eKitchen Confidential\u003c\/i\u003e is “Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: This book originally came from the library sale of television chef Antony Worrall Thompson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124130\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881669603705,"sku":"2124130","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124130.jpg?v=1774025734"},{"product_id":"hamilton-patrick-the-slaves-of-solitude","title":"HAMILTON, Patrick. The Slaves of Solitude.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e“the greatest of all Patrick Hamilton's books” (Doris Lessing).\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHAMILTON, Patrick.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Slaves of Solitude. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Constable,\u003c\/i\u003e 1947.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, in the unclipped dustwrapper priced 9\/6 net to the front flap; pp. [4], 242, [2]; lower spine tip rubbed, jacket rubbed and nicked to spine tips and corners with loss to upper spine tip; a near fine copy, in a very good, notably bright, wrapper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA crisp, sharp first edition, first printing of arguably the finest of Hamilton’s novels.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Slaves of Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e is “one of the very best English novels written about th[e] war– yet it contains no descriptions of combat or death and destruction caused by warfare” (David Lodge). Set in 1943 in the fictional town of Thames Lockdon (essentially Henley-on-Thames), the novel follows the experiences of Miss Roach, living in the Rosamund Tea Rooms, a guest house, having left London during the Blitz. A “slave of her task-master, solitude”, something shifts with the appearance at the guest house of a charismatic American Lieutenant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123713\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881669669241,"sku":"2123713","price":200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123713_a70349e0-0977-443c-bd18-a1b0d20aceeb.jpg?v=1774028438"},{"product_id":"baudelaire-charles-christopher-isherwood-translator-w-h-auden-introduction-intimate-journals","title":"BAUDELAIRE, Charles, Christopher ISHERWOOD ( translator ), W.H. AUDEN ( introduction ). Intimate Journals.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eBaudelaire was man enough for damnation (T. S. Eliot).\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBAUDELAIRE, Charles, Christopher ISHERWOOD (\u003ci\u003etranslator\u003ci\u003e), W.H. AUDEN (\u003ci\u003eintroduction\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Intimate Journals. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Methuen and Co\u003c\/i\u003e. 1949.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, in the unclipped dustwrapper priced 25s. Net to the front flap; pp. xiv, 71, [1]; six collotype plates (including frontispiece) with tissue guards, one drawing, upper edges gilt; light rubbing to spine tips, wrapper variously nicked and rubbed to edges and extremities with a little loss to spine tips and corners, neat contemporary ownership name to front free endpaper; a near fine copy in very good wrapper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition thus, one of 750 copies, with a new introduction by W. H. Auden.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eIntimate Journals\u003c\/i\u003e are made up from papers collected and published after Baudelaire's death. If few entries in the \u003ci\u003eJournals\u003c\/i\u003e are concerned with poetry, these reflections on love, religion, politics, are very much the work of a poet. In his introduction, W. H. Auden (who loved lists) suggests they can be read in “four different ways at once: as the observations of a human spirit […]; as the observations of a poet […] as distinguished from men with other gifts and professions; as the observations of a Frenchman of the nineteenth century; and as the observations of a French poet of the nineteenth century.” Often cryptic, the fragments repay the attention they demand; as Chrostopher Isherwood writes in his preface, “[t]he more you study these \u003ci\u003eIntimate Journals\u003c\/i\u003e, the better you will understand them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsherwood's translation was originally issued in a limited edition by The Blackamore Press in 1930 (T. S. Eliot provided the the introduction). This edition, limited to 750 copies and with Auden's introduction, appeared in 1949.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123122\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881669767545,"sku":"2123122","price":75.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123122.jpg?v=1774028460"},{"product_id":"beckett-samuel-dream-of-fair-to-middling-women","title":"BECKETT, Samuel. Dream of Fair to Middling Women.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eThe chest into which I threw my wild thoughts.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBECKETT, Samuel.\u003c\/strong\u003e Dream of Fair to Middling Women. \u003ci\u003eDublin: The Black Cat Press.\u003c\/i\u003e 1992.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Original blue watered silk, lettered black to the spine, publisher's device in blind to front board in blind, black marbled endpapers, in green silk slipcase, with blue ribbon pull, binder's label to lower edge of front pastedown; pp. vii (limitation page tipped in between p. i and iii), [3], 241, [3]; spine a little faded, light rubbing to one corner of slipcase; an excellent, near fine copy; inscribed and dated by the editor at the end of his Foreword.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition; Copy D of 20 lettered copies bound for the publisher (130 numbered copies were also produced); this copy additionally inscribed by the editor (on the publication date) to Ted O’Brien of The Black Cat Press who with his wife Ursula designed the dustwrapper for the trade edition.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDream of Fair to Middling Women\u003c\/i\u003e, Beckett's first novel, was written in Paris in 1932 while the twenty-six-year-old author was living at the Trianon Hotel on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris. The manuscript, rejected by every publisher it was sent to, would become the basis of the stories collected in \u003ci\u003eMore Pricks than Kicks\u003c\/i\u003e (1934), both works sharing the central (autobiographical) character of Belacqua Shua. The novel remained unpublished and Beckett consistently forbade publication of the novel until, near the end of his life, he relented, in conversation with Eoin O'Brien, and agreed that it could be published, but not \"until he was gone for some little time\". The book was to be published by John Calder in London, but following a dispute, O'Brien published the book in Dublin before the UK edition emerged. The novel has recently been reissued by Faber and Faber, for which O'Brien's Dublin text (and preface) has been reproduced (Calder’s edition contained a number of errors). Beckett described the novel as \"the chest into which I threw my wild thoughts\". It is a work of tremendous energy and Joycean exuberance, and key to many of the author's later works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122683\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881669800313,"sku":"2122683","price":875.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122683.jpg?v=1774028470"},{"product_id":"friendship-album-album-of-poetry-watercolour-illustrations-and-sketches","title":"[FRIENDSHIP ALBUM.] Album of poetry, watercolour illustrations, and sketches.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[FRIENDSHIP ALBUM.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Album of poetry, watercolour illustrations, and sketches. \u003ci\u003eLancashire?\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1887–1893.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4to. Contemporary black roan, blind-stamped with central vignette to upper and lower boards of two classical figures presenting offerings to a statue, spine and edges gilt; pp. [149], on cream and pastel-coloured paper with 20 pp. of watercolour illustrations, sketches in pencil, and manuscript ephemera, some of which pasted or tipped in (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e), elegantly written in several hands in dark brown and black ink; headcap chipped and joints neatly repaired; occasionally wanting tipped-in material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn attractive nineteenth-century friendship album collecting poems, and a lively sequence of watercolours and pencil sketches contributed by eight or more different hands, including a number of additions likely made by children.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe literary selections, mostly dated between 1887 and 1893, include poetic extracts from Shakespeare’s \u003ci\u003eThe Winter’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e (‘Susie White, March 1887’), together with work by the Victorian poets Charles Swain (1801–1874) and Thomas Hood (1799–1845) (‘Percy Naylor, 22\/11\/90’). The range of contributors and dates suggests an album actively used and added to over several years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe drawings range from more assured studies of flora and fauna to others of a charmingly naïve and expressive character, \u003cstrong\u003esuggesting contributions by hands of differing experience, and likely including children or younger family members\u003c\/strong\u003e. Particularly attractive are the period ‘copy’ illustrations made from printed sources, among them a drawing after Lancelot Speed’s Mother Holle for Lang’s \u003ci\u003eRed Fairy Book\u003c\/i\u003e (‘H. K. 1893’) and a careful copy after an engraved costume design for Rossini’s \u003ci\u003eGuillaume Tell\u003c\/i\u003e. A pleasing local note is provided by a view of Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, accompanied by an extract from Wordsworth’s ‘Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood’ (‘HJK. 93’).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe volume as a whole preserves a small but vivid cross-section of late nineteenth-century domestic creativity across a range of media, illustrating the friendship album as a space for shared quotation, copying, and artistic expression, often bridging generations within a family or social circle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124468\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881794318713,"sku":"2124468","price":450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124468b.jpg?v=1774041498"},{"product_id":"acker-kathy-i-dreamt-i-became-a-nymphomaniac-imagining","title":"ACKER, Kathy. I Dreamt I Became a Nymphomaniac! :Imagining.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eACKER, Kathy.\u003c\/strong\u003e I Dreamt I Became a Nymphomaniac! :Imagining. \u003ci\u003eSan Francisco: Empty Elevator Shaft Poetry Press \/ musicmusic Corporation\u003c\/i\u003e. 1974.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSix vols, 8vo. Original white and cream wrappers, stapled as issued, front covers lettered in purple (vol. I) and black (vols III–VI), front cover of vol. II blank; housed in a custom-made grey card box; continuous pagination throughout, vol. I entirely printed in purple; some light wear to covers, slight spotting to top edge of text block in vols V and VI; near fine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, a particularly attractive copy, of Acker’s second published novel, issued in six separate parts in limited numbers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA central figure in the New York literary avant-garde of the 1970s, Kathy Acker developed a transgressive feminist voice that challenged conventional narrative forms. \u003ci\u003eI Dreamt I Became a Nymphomaniac!\u003c\/i\u003e, loosely based on her own experiences, employs her characteristic fragmentary prose to explore the desires and inner life of its first-person narrator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work was first issued in 1974 in six separate volumes, and appeared in a single-volume edition in 1980. Only the first two volumes are explicitly attributed to Acker: the third is credited on the front cover to the composer and experimental musician Peter Gordon (whom she married in 1978), while the back cover bears the copyright name “The Black Tarantula”, one of her pseudonyms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122688\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56881795563897,"sku":"2122688","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122688.jpg?v=1774029048"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/collections\/claret_641c3ed4-6707-4236-a641-2a1a77a9ebe9.jpg?v=1774031483","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/collections\/literature-22-new-acquisitions-for-march.oembed","provider":"Sotherans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}