KELMAN, James ~ How Late it Was, How Late. Signed by the author.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Secker & Warburg, London: 1994.

8vo., black publisher's boards, backstrip lettered in gilt; housed in the original unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (£14.99) featuring illustrations by Colum Leith; with a black and white photograph of the author to the lower panel by Douglas Robertson; black endpapers; THE BOOK near-fine, lightly dented to upper corners; text block evenly toned throughout; THE WRAPPER fine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, first printing. This copy signed by the author to the title page. Complete with a 1994 Booker Prize Bookmark. Kelman's 1994 Booker Prize-winning book is set in Glasgow, and follows an ex-convict, Sammy, as he wakes from a two-day binge and attempts to retrace his movements, which include beatings, blindness, nameless crimes and the disappearance of his girlfriend. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style in an uncensored Scottish dialect, the novel is a masterpiece of irony and black humour, and certainly controversial. While many praised the book for it's bold and unapologetic style, one Booker Prize judge threatened to resign, calling the book 'deeply inaccessibly' a 'disgrace' and 'frankly...crap'. The Times also referred to it as an act of "literary vandalism". In his acceptance speech, Kelman responded directly to the comments, stating that "A fine line can exist between elitism and racism...on matters concerning language and culture, the distinction can sometimes cease to exist altogether." He was the first Scottish writer to win the award.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Fine