NARAYAN, R. K. ~ The Guide

FIRST UK PRINTING. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London: 1958

8vo., black publisher's boards lettered in silver to spine with red peacock device and publisher's name to foot; together in the striking dustwrapper by Pat Marriott (15s. net); THE BOOK a wonderful copy, very lightly offset to endpapers but otherwise near-fine; THE WRAPPER clean and bright with some darkening to folds, spine and lower panel, a couple of splashes, and some small chips to spine ends and top of rear fold. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, first printing. The Indian writer Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (1906 – 13 May 2001) was an avid reader from a young age, and published his first novel, Swami and Friends, in 1930. Rejected by a swathe of publishers, Narayan finally found recognition after his manuscript was discovered by Graham Greene, and Greene continued to support Narayan with his early writing, including for his second novel, The Bachelor of Arts (1937). By the time 'The Guide' was published in 1958, Narayan's works were being published in the USA, and in fact the book was written while he was travelling throughout America, writing up to 1500 words per day. It was also around this time that Narayan travelled to England to meet Greene, his mentor and fierce advocate, for the first and only time. Set, like most of his works, in the fictional town of Malgudi (which appeared in his first novel and portrayed a microcosm of India), the book has been described as "the most representative of Narayan's writing skills and elements, ambivalent in expression, coupled with a riddle-like conclusion" (Mathur, 1993). The plot follows the protagonist, 'Railway Raju' through his beginnings as a tour guide, through his journey falling in love with a dancer, and later his life as a spiritual guide, a sadhu, living in a deserted temple and solving the problems of the local villagers - including disputes and famines. The book later won the first Sahitya Akademi Award for English, by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1960. This first edition is wonderfully accompanied by the pictorial dustwrapper featuring an image of the aforementioned dancer by Pat Marriott, the British artist and book illustrator best known for her thirty-year collaboration with author Joan Aiken.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine