Ursula. The Lathe of Heaven.

by LE GUIN

£4,000 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

'Perfidious Albion' LE GUIN, Ursula. The Lathe of Heaven. London: Victor Gollancz. 1972. 8vo. Original dark red boards with spine lettered in gilt; striking yellow unclipped dust jacket; pp. [vi], 184, loosely inserted, signed single sheet typed letter headed 'N.W. Thurman Street, Portland, Oregon, 97210' (see below); spine ends minimally bumped and with spotting to top edge; letter folded three times; otherwise near fine. The first UK edition, first impression, accompanied by a typed letter signed from Le Guin to her editor Malcolm Edwards at Gollancz, dated 8 May 1979, in which she mentions the forthcoming film adaptation of the novel. The plot of this classic novel revolves around a man whose dreams begin to alter reality and the positive and negative consequences that ensue. The Lathe of Heaven , first serialised in Amazing in 1971, was published the same year by Scribner's in New York. The title of the novel is drawn from the writings of Chuang Tzu, and cited directly in Chapter Three: 'To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven…'. In the loosely inserted typed, hand-signed letter from 1979, Le Guin expresses regret for missing the 37th World Science Fiction Convention held in Brighton, owing, in part, to her mother's illness. She expresses sadness that her children have migrated halfway across the world, writing, 'we keep losing our daughters to perfidious Albion'. In the l

• Binding: Hardcover

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