Inscribed in the year of publication

Wilson, Colin ~ Adrift in Soho : Inscribed by the Author in the Year of Publication

FIRST UK PRINTING : Victor Gollancz Ltd, London : 1961

The First UK Printing published by Victor Gollancz Ltd, London in 1961. 8vo., red publisher's boards lettered in gilt to backstrip; together in the iconic Gollancz wrapper in bright yellow, lettered and bordered in pink and black (16/- net); The BOOK is in Very Good++ or better condition with mild offsetting to the end-papers; slight toning to the outer edges of text block, with a couple of small red marks to the lower edge; slightly sunning to the edges and spine tips; Light pushing to the spine ends. The WRAPPER is in Very Good++ or better condition. Some light age related markings more-so to the lower panel, which also has a couple of small light splash marks; ever-so-slightly nicked at head of spine and tips of folds. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. Inscribed by the authorn to the front free endpaper, in the year of publication: "For Ivan + Kathleen, warm regards, Colin, Sept 61" Wilson's fifth book, and second novel, which follows a provincial lad (Harry Preston) in the mid 1950s, from his service with the RAF to Soho and Notting Hill. Seeking life and adventure in the capital, he becomes involved with the members of London's beatnik generation which include the real-life 'King of the Bohemians' Ironfoot Jack and a whole host of other characters which include artists, writers, actors, con men and rich benefactors. Many of these were based on real-life people living in London at the time of publication (Jack was Professor’ J. R. Neave, who wore a surgical boot with an iron extension below the sole) but at the advice of his publisher, Wilson went on to change all of the names substantially in order to avoid any potential legal battles. Wilson had himself been conscripted into the air force in 1949, but clashed with the authoritarian nature of his superiors, and in order to be dismissed he feigned homosexuality and spent the next few years travelling around Europe, taking up a series of menial jobs. During his time in London, he spent some time sleeping rough in order to save money, and first conceived of the idea for Adrift in Soho as a collaboration between himself and his friend Charles Russell, a bohemian and uncredited actor who had sent Wilson a copy of a novel he was writing. "As soon as I read it I saw that it was unpublishable in its present form", Wilson later wrote in his autobiography, "But the fragment fascinated me….For about a week I tried to rewrite it as a novel, then suddenly realised that I could not write the book from behind Charles’s eyes, so to speak; I had to put myself into it." Russell would receive £100 and a percentage of ongoing royalties for his part in the publication. As Nicolas Tredell would later write in 'The Novels of Colin Wilson' (1982): "Adrift in Soho, for all its lightness, manages to be many things. A Bildungsroman; a picaresque tale; a documentary; a period piece; a fairy story; an investigation of freedom...It also teaches a lesson relevant to Wilson’s future development as a novelist: that an apparently light-weight form could deal with serious themes." Rare in such collectible condition with such attributes.

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