Vainglory.

£1,250 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

one of 500 copies First edition of the author's first novel, limited to just 500 copies published at his own expense. Vainglory is Firbank's longest novel, and has sometimes been described as as the first true modernist novel in English. However, in the year of publication, the amount of copies sold numbered no more than 179. It was only after the First World War that his books gained traction, later praised by such writers as E.M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, and W.H. Auden. Firbank was openly gay, and his works, inspired by London's fin de siècle aesthetes, feature themes of religion, society, and explorations of sexuality. An incredibly scarce work, especially in the dustjacket. First edition, first impression; 8vo; colour frontispiece by Felician Rops, slight offsetting to endpapers, occasional minor spotting, else unmarked internally; publisher's black cloth, gilt lettering to spine and upper cover, green topstain, slight rubbing to spine tips, with the pictorial dust-jacket, design by Felician Rops replicating frontispiece, some dampstaining to backstrip, light dust-soiling, corners chipped with loss, some creasing to extremities, some loss to spine ends and lower edge of rear panel (not affecting text), else very good. Benkovitz A2a.

• Printing: first
• Binding: Hardcover

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