First printing of a wartime classic
FAULKNER, William. A Fable. New York: Random House. 1954.
8vo. Dark red publisher's cloth, embossed in black and blind to upper board with three cross designs; lettered in pink and silver along backstrip, with publisher's device to foot; textured grey endpapers; in the stunning pictorial dust jacket designed by Riki Levinson; pp. [xiii], 4-437, [i]; an absolutely wonderful example, the best we have ever seen; essentially a fine copy in the like jacket which is just a trifle rubbed to foot of spine, housed in a custom-made paper slipcase which has done wonders to protect the cover beneath.
First edition, stated first printing, correctly priced $4.75 to the front flap, and dated 8/54.
Faulkner worked for over a decade on A Fable, his classic wartime novel, and the one he had hoped would be his greatest achievement. Set in France, it covers the period of a week in 1918 when the protagonist, who represents a reincarnation of Jesus, orders his troops not to attack, and in introducing peace to trench warfare effectively stops the war.
The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955, and the National Book Award for Fiction in the same year.
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