The Ambassadors.
by James, Henry
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
San Francisco, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Methuen, 1903.. 8vo. 458 pp. Very Good, Red Decorative Cloth with sun-fading, minor stains, edge wear, & rubbing on boards; wear along spine; splitting of EPs along gutters; minor foxing and stains in some portions of text block; extensive notes penciled in back of volume facing BEP; minor shelf wear. Provenance: John Ruyle; bookplate inside cover and stamps throughout indicate this volume is a former library book. Mylar Jacket. First Edition.
Synopsis
Chad Newsome has gone to Paris. He is charmed by Old World fascinations and caught up in the leisurely craft and bohemian direction of European worldliness. An older woman of rank and adventurous but subtle skill, Madame de Vionnet, strokes his ego and does her best to keep Chad in Paris indefinitely. Chad's mother lives in Woollett, Mass., and wants her son to return to run the family business. Mrs. Newsome is an invalid and cannot go to Paris to fetch her son herself, so she employs Lambert Strether and Sarah Pocock to return Chad to Massachusetts. Sarah has been to Paris before and is aware of its attractiveness, so her determination to succeed in this task is fixed and uncompromising. Strether is of later middle age, however, and inspired by the fairytale of a beautiful life in Europe. Mrs. Newsome has promised to marry Strether if he can bring Chad home. Strether is completely enamored by the Parisian character and its enchantments and has a difficult time completing his mission. The drama of reestablishing Chad in business in America and of coming to terms with the mythological romance of France leaves the reader unbalanced, trying to recover equilibrium in the real world. Those involved with Chad's rescue are compelled to recognize the deep intimacies of personal attachment and the accepted proprieties of direct consequence. The success and failures of such an undertaking are unpredictable. The result of every character's attempt to steer Chad rightly is a strange conglomeration of role reversal, fantasy, and truth.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 15-3865
- Title
- The Ambassadors.
- Author
- James, Henry
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Methuen, 1903.
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature & Linguistics;
Terms of Sale
Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Payment by credit cards or other means. 20% charge for returns,unless item is misdescribed.
About the Seller
Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Biblio member since 2006
San Francisco, California
About Alan Wofsy Fine Arts
Open 10:30- 17:00 Monday-Friday. Antiquarian books, Art books, Graphics, Posters, Autographs.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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