Scarce in the iconic dust wrapper

Hilton, James ~ Lost Horizon

Fifth UK Printing : Macmillan and Co., Limited, London: 1934

8vo., bright green cloth lettered in gilt to the backstrip; housed in the rare unclipped illustrated dust wrapper (7’6 net), featuring a design of dwellings in the mountains to the upper panel; and an aeroplane flying above them to the spine; THE BOOK a very good example; spine a little sun mottled; with some vertical creases to the front free endpaper; light spotting to outer edges and prelims; the very good WRAPPER slightly darkened to the backstrip; with some light overall creasing, spotting and dirtying; a little chipped and nicked to the spine tips and extremities of flap folds; 1cm closed tear along spine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. Fifth UK printing, first printed in September 1933. Following a plane crash, protagonists Conway, a British consul; his deputy; a missionary; and an American financier find themselves in the enigmatic snow-capped mountains of uncharted Tibet. There, they discover a seemingly perfect hidden community; a utopian paradise where the inhabitants live for centuries in peaceful harmony. Although published the year before the great commercial success of Goodbye, Mr Chips (1934), it was only after that date that Lost Horizon became a hugely popular work. In 1939, it was republished by Pan, and in doing so became one of the first commercial mass-market paperbacks. By the 1960s, it had sold some several million copies, later ranking as one of the most popular novels of the 20th century. The novel is perhaps best remembered today as providing the origin story of Shangri-La, the fictional utopian lamasery high in the himalayan mountains which went on to inspire Marvel Comics' mystical location K'un L'un and DC Comics' Nanda Parbat. Hilton is said to have been inspired by the ancient Tibetan Buddhist myth of the spiritual kingdom of Shambhala. According to the mythology, when the world is on the brink of utter destruction, the king of Shambhala will lead an army to defeat tyrants and bring about an era of global peace. In 1937, the book was adapted for film by director Frank Capra, starring Ronald Colman as Robert Conway and Jane Wyatt as Sondra. A budget of $1.25 million was authorised for the film by Colombia Pictures, the largest amount ever allocated to a project up to that time. Despite this, the film exceeded the budget by almost $800,000, in particular for its multiple film locations in Palm Springs, the Mojave Desert and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. “We have reason. It is the entire meaning and purpose of Shangri-La…Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity crashing headlong against each other. The time must come, my friend, when brutality and the lust for power must perish by its own sword. For when that day comes, the world must begin to look for a new life. And it is our hope that they may find it here.” Scarce in the iconic dust jacket.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good