THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (1/2)

Penelope Fitzgerald

ISBN 10: 0002232618 / ISBN 13: 9780002232616

Edité par Collins, 8 Grafton Street, London W1, 1988

A propos de cet article

Second printing of the true first edition - Booker Prize short-listed novel. ***Very good in dark green cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Corners sharp. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. There is a slight reading lean to the binding and a light vertical reading crease to the spine. Top edge of page-block slightly marked. Fore-edge of page-block has a small indentation affecting the fore-edge of a few pages slightly. Internally also very good with no inscriptions. Interior pages clean without any foxing. No creases or tears. ***In a very good colour-illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £10.95 net. The dustwrapper is complete with no tears or chips, just some light rubbing and creasing at the extremities. There is some fading to the sun-sensitive colour on the spine of the dustwrapper, which extends to the front and back panels near the spine (please see scans). ***223mm x145mm. 187 pages. ***Penelope Fitzgerald was born Penelope Mary Knox at the Old Bishop's Palace, Lincoln, the daughter of Edmund Knox, later editor of Punch, and Christina Hicks, daughter of Edward Hicks, the Bishop of Lincoln, and she was one of the first women students at Oxford. "The Beginning of Spring" is set in Moscow in 1913, and tells the story of a Moscow-born English-educated print shop owner whose English wife has suddenly abandoned him and their three children. The novel was shortlisted for the 1988 Booker Prize. Fitzgerald had a strong interest in Russian literature, and starting in the 1960s took courses in Russian language. She visited Moscow and environs in 1975, which included a visit to Tolstoy's house and a dacha in a birch forest. In the early 1970s, as part of her research on Edward Burne-Jones, Fitzgerald became friends with a Swiss art curator, Mary Chamot, who had been brought up in pre-revolution Russia. Chamot's family had had a greenhouse business in Moscow since the mid-1800s, and they had stayed on for a few years after the revolution. The original title of the novel was to be "The Greenhouse". Later, Fitzgerald considered "Nellie and Lisa", but her editor did not approve and suggested "The Coming of Spring" instead, an idea that the author modified for the published title.' (Wik) ***Second printing of the true first edition, complete in its original dustwrapper. Booker Prize shortlisted for 1988. A nice reading copy of the novel. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

N° de réf. du vendeur 8519

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (1/2)
• Éditeur: Collins, 8 Grafton Street, London W1
• Date de parution: 1988
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0002232618
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780002232616
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: First Edition
• Impression: Second Printing
• État de l'article: Very Good
• État de la jaquette: Very Good
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Literature
  • First Editions

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Set in Moscow in 1913, this novel concerns Frank Reid, whose wife suddenly leaves him without explanation to return to London. The author goes on to depict the Reid household, the expatriate community, Frank's colleagues, friends and children and the Russians with whom he comes into contact. This is set against the background of the life of the city itself, hardly aware of the upheaval about to break upon it. The author has also written "Innocence" and "Offshore".

Présentation de l'éditeur

Short-listed for the Booker Prize “Fitzgerald was the author of several slim, perfect novels. The Blue Flower and The Beginning of Spring both had me abuzz for days the first time I read them. She was curiously perfect.”— Teju Cole, author of Open City “Writing so precise and lilting it can make you shiver.” — Los Angeles Times March 1913. Moscow is stirring herself to meet the beginning of spring. English painter Frank Reid returns from work one night to find that his wife has gone away; no one knows where or why, or whether she’ll ever come back. All Frank knows for sure is that he is now alone and must find someone to care for his three young children. Into Frank’s life comes Lisa Ivanovna, a quiet, calming beauty from the country, untroubled to the point of seeming simple. But is she? And why has Frank’s bookkeeper, Selwyn Crane, gone to such lengths to bring these two together? This new edition features an introduction by Andrew Miller, author of Pure, along with new cover art.