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Golding, William : Darkness Visible

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York City, NY, 1979

ISBN 0374135029

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 265 pages. The author's seventh novel. One of the finest English novels of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents William Golding's "Darkness Visible". An allegorical novel, published after a long, twelve-year-plus hiatus. The title comes originally from Milton's "Paradise Lost" ("No light, but rather darkness visible"), but it now has pervasive currency as the literary reference for clinical depression. Golding's novel "opens during the London blitz, when a naked child steps out of an all-consuming fire. That child, Matty, becomes a wanderer and a seeker. Two more lost children await him, twins as exquisite as they are loveless. In a final conflagration, William Golding's book lights up both the inner and outer darkness of our time" (Publisher's blurb). A tour-de-force of a triumph (over his perennial writer's block following the monumental success of "Lord of The Flies" way back in 1954), it is "a vision of elemental reality so vivid we seem to hallucinate the scenes" (The New York Times). An absolute "must-have" title for William Golding collectors. This title is a modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. "Darkness Visible" is regarded by the late great Gore Vidal and Harold Bloom as a masterpiece. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. One of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. A fine copy. . ISBN 0374135029.

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GOLDING,WILLIAM: : DARKNESS VISIBLE

LONDON.FABER and FABER LIMITED,1979.

ISBN 0571114547.

UK,slim,small 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,glossy laminated,colour pictorial artwork ('The Rainmaker' by Russell Drysdale) illustrated dw/dj,with white and orange lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Head+foot of spine/backstrip of dw/ dj minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Some light indentation towards bottom right-hand corner of front panel of dw/dj,also lightly affecting the bds beneath.Top+fore-edges though aged/tanned - as usual/ normal - are generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean -almost pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners, would appear unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain burgundy cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white eps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,9-265pp [paginated] includes Pts 1-3 comprising 7,4,and 5 chapters reespectively,plus [unpaginated] blank,half-title+title pages,Latin motto,Pts separator pages,and 4pp blanks at the rear of the book. Matty appears out of the flaming destruction of the Blitz.Who is he? Is he more or less than an ordinary human? Is the journal he keeps madness or inspiration? The twins are young enough to be his daughters: Sophy - dark,amoral, cruel; and Toni - fair,brilliant, empty.Their generation inhabits a world of cold terror,a world running down,a world where love is dying. Yet Matty and Toni never meet,and Matty and Sophy for no more than a moment.There were others too,like Sebastian Pedigree,thought by some to be the wickedest of men. . . . Whether or not there was witchcraft and piety in combat around events in the actual world; or whether everything was in the mind,with each character sitting out the time in a separate cell with walls of adamant,the mood is everything,the fact in doubt. Golding has written a story of our times (then 1979),a chilling mystery which never ceases to mystify.The master of disturbing suggestion,he stirs up the sediment of dark thoughts and half-ideas within us all; but for the reader as well as the characters,the reality of inarticulate fear emerges more clearly than ever. Since April 2013,and again in March 2015,and again in this year too,the UK Post Office has increased it's Pricing in Proportion template, altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the value of this item,for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,slim,small 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.

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