One of only 500 copies issued

Firbank, Ronald (A.A.R.) ~ Vainglory

FIRST UK PRINTING : Grant Richards, London : 1915

The First UK Printing published by Grant Richards, London in 1915. 8vo., black cloth, lettered in gilt to upper corner of front board, and spine; together in the printed dustwrapper, featuring an image by Felician Rops, replicating the frontis; outer edge of text block untrimmed; upper edge green top-stain; THE BOOK is in Very Good++ condition, with some light scuffing at the spine tips; slightly offset to end-papers with the odd spot being the only defects; the Very Good++ WRAPPER with some even shelf-wear and light toning; creased along folds and with light chipping at folds; vertical strip of loss affecting lower panel and spine (no more than 0.5cm in depth, and not affecting the text); some light water staining to the backstrip; the wrapper is scarce to find in any condition. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, first UK printing. One of just 500 copies of the author's debut, his longest novel, and financed at his own expense. It was to be the first of Firbank's works to be produced by the English publisher Grant Richards, and the number of books sold in the year of publication numbered no more than 179 copies. Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) was a British writer who penned eight novels over the course of his lifetime. Greatly inspired by Oscar Wilde, Firbank wrote his first book, 'Lila', aged just 10, and in 1904 his first publication ‘La Princesse aux Soleils’ was printed in a Parisian monthly. In 1905 'Odette D’Antrevernes' was published by Elkin Matthews in London. Several full-length novels followed, along with a series of stories and plays. Suffering with lung disease for most of his life, Firbank died in Rome in 1926, at the age of 40. Firbank was openly gay, and his works feature themes of religion, society, and explorations of sexuality. Predominantly dialogue-based, his tales are full of the razor-sharp wit and bizarre characters of his idol, with ‘Valmouth‘ (1918) likely his most celebrated work (and adapted into a successful London musical in 1958). It was only after the war, however, that his books gained traction, later praised by such writers as E. M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh and W. H. Auden. 'Vainglory' has sometimes been described as the first true modernist novel in English, and utilities his customary dialogue to suppress much of a plot and instead present fragments of talk and passages of lyrical description. "the effect" wrote Alan Hollinghurst in 'The Spectator', "is both aesthetically dazzling and unnervingly like life, action caught in cinematic jump cuts and conversation sampled as if by a roving microphone." : "They were in the dogs’ cemetery. Lady Castleyard tapped a little crooked cross. One fears' she said, 'that Georgia must have poisoned them all for the sake of their epitaphs.'" An incredibly scarce work, particularly in the wrapper. (Benkovitz A2a)

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET: Very Good++