The Black Book : An Agon

Paris: The Obelisk Press, 1938. First Printing. Stiff Wrappers. Near Fine+. True First Edition (with error in pagination at pp. 114-118), second issue (with erratum slip tipped onto title page), of Durrell's first significant novel and the first volume in the Villa Seurat Series, founded by Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, and Lawrence and Nancy Durrell. 8vo (212 x 148mm): [10],11-260,[2]pp. As with all copies, pp. 114-118 were printed out of order (though paginated sequentially), with the correct sequence of text (pp. 114, 117, 115, 116, 118) written in holograph at foot of each affected page). Publisher's pale green heavy wrappers with French flaps (price of 75 Francs neatly blacked out on front flap), front panel with pale pink rectangle and obelisk motif, spine printed in black, bottom edge trimmed, others rough-trimmed. Small bookseller's label to fly-leaf (Librairie Sinfonia, 68, Champs Elysées, Paris). Gentle lightening to spine, light wear to extremities, mild tanning to about a third of page margins (as usual), a few leaves roughly opened (several with short marginal tears, far from letterpress). An excellent example of this fragile production. Miers & Armstrong 60. Potter & Whiting 19. Thomas & Brigham A8. Pearson A-56. Durrell's first major work, written in the mid-1930's under the influence of Henry Miller and the Surrealist movement; the work in which Durrell later claimed to have "first heard the sound of [his] own voice." T. S. Eliot's endorsement on the front flap, calling The Black Book the "first piece of work to give me any hope for the future of prose fiction," is somewhat suspect praise, given that Eliot was Durrell's editor at Faber & Faber, which would not print The Black Book without expurgating its frank language and explicit sexual content, a compromise that Henry Miller persuaded Durrell to reject. Thomas & Brigham never encountered a copy with the erratum slip, suggesting "that it was not added until a number of copies had been dispatched," and in our experience the so-called second issue is more scarce than the first. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).