LARDNER JR, Ring. The Ecstasy of Owen. London: Jonathan Cape. 1954. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the excellent wraparound dust jacket unsigned though unquestionably by Hans Tisdall. A very good copy. The cloth clean, the backstrip just slightly stained, the extremities marginally rubbed. The binding tight and square, the textblock with some spots to top edge, the endpapers foxed, else largely fine. From the library of Bruce Marshall with his ink inscription to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped, Cape-cut at all corners, the spine panel a trifle faded, corners and tips gently rubbed and nicked, but a pleasing copy.
The author’s first book, published in the UK as opposed to his native US, on account of his being blacklisted as a member of the The Hollywood Ten, a group of motion-picture writers, directors, and producers who refused to answer questions about their political affiliations before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947—and was incarcerated for nine months thus. The novel is, essentially, a comic satire on the McCarthy era and its thought control processes—dissecting such '‘incidental phenomena as modern business ethics, psychoanalysis, racial intolerance, ‘mature’ attitudes towards sex, the Manhattan night-club set, judicial procedures, ‘enlightened’ penology, the vigilante spirit and the liberal rationale’.
LARDNER JR, Ring. The Ecstasy of Owen. London: Jonathan Cape. 1954. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the excellent wraparound dust jacket unsigned though unquestionably by Hans Tisdall. A very good copy. The cloth clean, the backstrip just slightly stained, the extremities marginally rubbed. The binding tight and square, the textblock with some spots to top edge, the endpapers foxed, else largely fine. From the library of Bruce Marshall with his ink inscription to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped, Cape-cut at all corners, the spine panel a trifle faded, corners and tips gently rubbed and nicked, but a pleasing copy.
The author’s first book, published in the UK as opposed to his native US, on account of his being blacklisted as a member of the The Hollywood Ten, a group of motion-picture writers, directors, and producers who refused to answer questions about their political affiliations before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947—and was incarcerated for nine months thus. The novel is, essentially, a comic satire on the McCarthy era and its thought control processes—dissecting such '‘incidental phenomena as modern business ethics, psychoanalysis, racial intolerance, ‘mature’ attitudes towards sex, the Manhattan night-club set, judicial procedures, ‘enlightened’ penology, the vigilante spirit and the liberal rationale’.
Image 1 of 5
Image 2 of 5
Image 3 of 5
Image 4 of 5
Image 5 of 5