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First edition, praised by the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction as among the best works of the genre published that year. The story presents “a humanly convincing account of extraterrestrials who first make themselves at home in our ocean deeps before venturing upon the lands we think ours” ( F&SF , p. 94); “it provides a chance for the type of mild surrealism – motor boats chugging up Oxford Street – which Wyndham enjoyed, and it increased his popularity. Wyndham’s success sprang from portraying civilization under stress, while at the same time deploying middle-class values (the role of women and of the working class) which were already being questioned” ( ODNB ). Octavo. Original maroon boards, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Binding square and firm, rubbing to rear cover, light spotting to edges and browning to endpapers, contents crisp. A very good copy indeed, in like dust jacket, not price-clipped, soiling and foxing to rear panel and verso, else bright and sharp. ¶ Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy , vol. I, p. 237. “Recommended Reading: The Best Science-Fantasy Books of 1953”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction , vol. 6, no. 3, March 1954. £750 [128397] 206 ZWEIG, Stefan. Schachnovelle (“Chess”).
First European edition, scarce. Zweig’s novella (published in English as The Royal Game ) was first printed in Buenos Aires the previous year, but that edition is seldom seen – the Stockholm edition is the first printed on the continent that Zweig had fled. One of the most popular writers in the world in the 1920s and ’30s, Zweig escaped Austria in 1934, and his books were banned by the Nazis. He settled eventually in Petrópolis, Brazil, until, despairing for the future of humanity, he and his wife took their lives in 1942 with an overdose of barbiturates. Schachnovelle , in which the chess-mad protagonist is found fleeing persecution in Europe on a cruise ship bound to South America, masterfully reflects these anxieties. This copy is from the library of Paul Dinichert (1879–1954), with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper dated 15 April 1944. He served as a member of the Swiss envoy to Berlin until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he moved post to Stockholm. Octavo. Original buckram-backed blue boards, gilt titles to spine. With dust jacket. Light fading to board edges, contents fresh. A near-fine copy, in like dust jacket, light sunning to spine panel, spine ends and tips nicked, a sharp and bright example. £1,250 [152787]
hinges, remaining firm, foxing to plate margins, illustration unaffected, contents fresh. A very good copy indeed. ¶ Maggs Bros., Bookbinding in the British Isles , Part I, 1996. £950 [153424] 204 WRIGHT, S. Fowler. The New Gods Lead. First edition of this collection of science fiction stories, rare in the jacket. Though in the tradition of H. G. Wells, with whom comparisons are often made, Fowler Wright was far more dystopic in his vision of the future: “the general theme is that science, the new gods, is a menace” (Bleiler). The collection was expanded and republished in 1949 as The Throne of Saturn , and further expanded in 1996 as S. Fowler Wright’s Short Stories . Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. A fine copy, in near-fine, bright jacket, slight residue from removal of overprice sticker to spine panel, light creasing and short closed tears around extremities, without repairs. ¶ Bleiler 2444. £2,250 [153613] London: Jarrolds Publishers, 1932 RARE IN THE STRIKING JACKET 205 WYNDHAM, John. The Kraken Wakes. London: Michael Joseph, 1953
Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943 fleeing europe with a chessboard for company
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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