Description

FIRST EDITION OF THE COLLECTOR, INSCRIBED BY JOHN FOWLES IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION

FOWLES, John. The Collector. London: Jonathan Cape, (1963). Octavo, original russet cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Fowles’ highly acclaimed first published novel, inscribed in the year of publication, “Miss B- S-, With the author’s regards, John Fowles, 1963,” with scarce first-issue dust jacket.

“There is not a page in this first novel which does not prove that its author is a master storyteller” (New York Times). Recalling his inspiration for the novel, Fowles once said, “Some time during the 1950s, I went to see the first performance in London of a Bartok opera, Bluebeard’s Castle. It wasn’t a very good performance, but the thing that struck me was the symbolism of the man imprisoning women underground? And eventually, it led me to the book” (Roy Newquist). Although Fowles wrote The Collector after his magnum opus The Magus, The Collector was accepted for publication first. Basis for the 1965, Oscar-nominated film starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Egger. Scarce first-issue dust jacket, without reviews.

Small marginal closed tear to page 171 of about-fine book with only slightest edge-dusting and a light marginal stain to bottom cover and first few leaves; unrestored dust jacket about-fine. A lovely copy.