BARON, Alexander. The Lowlife. London: Collins. 1963. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Kenneth Farnhill. An about very good copy, the cloth clean and bright, slightly bumped around the spine head and tail, the gilt just marginally rubbed. `the binding very tight and square. The textblock lightly spotted, the contents fine but for a handful of occasional spots and faint marks, without stamps or inscriptions. The dust jacket price-clipped, some chips around the spine tips and corners, most noticeably to the rear panel upper joint, and with haphazard white sticker repairs to verso exposing the loss. A few other small closed tears and gentle rubbing to spine joints, but a pleasing example overall.
Alexander Baron’s most famous work and arguably his best. It follows Harryboy Boas, lowlife gambler who can only plunge lower in pursuit of that fixing win. Yet like many of Baron’s characters, his humanism, slippery at times, has the reader vouch for him. A remarkable portrait of 60s East London, and a firm favourite of this cataloguer, should that give any credence. Scarce, and becoming scarcer.
BARON, Alexander. The Lowlife. London: Collins. 1963. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Kenneth Farnhill. An about very good copy, the cloth clean and bright, slightly bumped around the spine head and tail, the gilt just marginally rubbed. `the binding very tight and square. The textblock lightly spotted, the contents fine but for a handful of occasional spots and faint marks, without stamps or inscriptions. The dust jacket price-clipped, some chips around the spine tips and corners, most noticeably to the rear panel upper joint, and with haphazard white sticker repairs to verso exposing the loss. A few other small closed tears and gentle rubbing to spine joints, but a pleasing example overall.
Alexander Baron’s most famous work and arguably his best. It follows Harryboy Boas, lowlife gambler who can only plunge lower in pursuit of that fixing win. Yet like many of Baron’s characters, his humanism, slippery at times, has the reader vouch for him. A remarkable portrait of 60s East London, and a firm favourite of this cataloguer, should that give any credence. Scarce, and becoming scarcer.
