The author's debut novel
Faulkner, William ~ Soldier’s Pay
Chatto & Windus, London : 1930
First UK printing published by Chatto & Windus, London in 1930. The BOOK is in Very Good++ or better condition. Slightly cocked with only a tiny bump to the front top edge and to the top corner. Some light sporadic spotting to the fore text-block. The dark green top stain is bright and the pages are very clean. Light offsetting to the blank end-papers. The WRAPPER is complete and is in Very Good++ or better condition. Small losses to the spine tips. There is some splitting to the edge of the inside flap fold. There are a couple of small chips to the corners along with a small closed tear to the inside lower flap. There are two tiny holes to the spine. The panels are clean with just some very light toning to the spine. The wrapper remains very bright in the removable Brodart archival cover. Faulkner's debut novel was originally published in the USA in 1926, and it wasn't until 1930 that it was published in the UK and most likely in a small print run. The novel on the front wrapper exclaims "Not a War Book", it follows a wounded aviator's return home, significantly injured from time served in The Great War. It centres around his relationship with a war widow. One of only 2000 copies published in the United Kingdom, with a preface by Richard Hughes (who wrote "A High Wind in Jamaica" and, who incidentally, helped launch Faulkner in England). Petersen A2.14. Man Working 310. Hanna 1166. Coan, p. 123. Cooperman, p. 160. In 1925, Faulkner moved to New Orleans where he joined a literary circle centred on Sherwood Anderson and was introduced to the modernist innovations of T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. Faulkner subsequently went onto win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1949. Scarce to find with the wrapper in any collectible condition.
BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET: Very Good++
£1500