In de Strik

Andries Blitz, 1932. 1st Edition. Hardcover. VG++/VG-. 1st Dutch edition [1932]. 13 x 20.5 cm. Blue boards with gilt titles to front cover and to spine, 225pp, uncut fore and bottom edges, the top edge washed in blue. In original dust jacket by typographic designer Piet Zwart. The boards are in very good condition, noting a tiny bruise to the bottom corner of the front cover and at the bottom edges, the cloth and the gilt looking very bright and fresh. Internally, there is no name, inscription or bookplate and the pages are very clean. The binding is firm and square. The dust jacket has minor loss at all corners, chips to the spine tips and a uniform level of spotting (please see images). It has no tape or reinforcement to the verso and is now protected in a removable, clear cover. A very presentable copy of a very scarce edition. Biographer Emile van der Wilk states that although De Nève wrote the book in French, it was first published in the UK (as Barred in 1932) then in the Netherlands (as In de Strik) and then in France (as Sous les Verrous on 31/5/1933). The reason for publication in this unusual order was down to Jean Rhys, who saw the manuscript (in French) and translated it into English. In his biography of de Nève, van der Wilk states: In addition to translating the book into English, she had also made it more readable through a thorough editing. She later falsely claimed to her publisher Diana Athill that she had only omitted a few sentences about herself which she thought were a little too "unfair". However, in a letter to her publisher Francis Wyndham dated 10th June 1964, she goes a little further, saying: I tried to follow the original but I had to be cut and arranged a bit. The carving was not insignificant. Six and a half to seven thousand words were deleted, about 10% of the total. Hardly a paragraph remained unchanged. That de Nève also believed that his text had become better as a result can be deduced by the fact that he translated the Dutch edition from the English and not the original French text. Apparently he had difficulty acknowledging this, because in a letter to van Vriesland (27/1/33) he wrote: 'I consider the French version to be by far the best. How could it be otherwise – a book that comes more from the heart than the mind I should, of course, best write in my own language'. De Nève would in turn translate and edit Jean Rhys, book Melodie in Mineur (Voyage in the Dark) in 1935. [At the time of listing, we have first edition copies of both Sous les Verrous (no. 6 of 27 copies) and Melodie in Mineur] Rainford & Parris Books welcomes enquiries, so please do not hesitate to ask if you require further images or have any questions. All books are packaged with great care.