Eyeless in Gaza (Signed. First Trade Edition.)
London: Chatto & Windus, 1936. First Trade Edition. Hardcover. Signed by author Aldous Huxley with "All good wishes" on the title page. This first trade edition is bound in a dark beige publisher's cloth with dark red debossed lettering on the cover and spine. Dark red top stain. Deckled foot. 620 pp. Deep red dust jacket with off-white lettering on the cover and spine is protected by a mylar cover.
Aldous Huxley, (1894-1963), was an English writer and philosopher, writing almost 50 books including novels, non-fiction, essays, narratives and poems. While often associated with "Brave New World" as his masterpiece, Simon Heffer, an English journalist and historian, called "Eyeless in Gaza" his best book and his only great novel, in which Huxley harks back to his early satires and links to the more serious and philosophical concerns of his later novels. (Wikipedia). Huxley died on November 22, 1963, the same day as John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis.
FROM THE DUST JACKET FLAP: "The title of Mr. Huxley's long-awaited novel is from Milton's description of Samson as 'Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves.' It is the story of a number of attempts to achieve liberty. The central character is a person who has been endowed by nature with enough intelligence to make it possible for him to have freedom of thought. Circumstances have given him economic liberty together with considerable freedom from these emotional ties which are imposed by family life. Without any moral struggle his is able to attain the likeness, the equivalent on another plane, of the detachment of the philosopher, the self-abnegation of the religious man. The main theme of the book is the development of the hero from boyhood, and his discovery in middle life that this irresponsible liberty of his is not liberty at all, and that the equivalents of philosopherhood and sanctity which he has achieved are in no sense identical with the genuine articles. Numerous other characters, more and less important, figure in the book, and the narrative, instead of being a continuous chronological sequence, consists of a counterpoint of four narratives of different epochs of the hero's life, from childhood at the beginning of the century to middle age at the present time. These narratives wind in and out of one another, so that an event of 1902 may be followed by one of 1933, the one throwing light on the other. The cinema has accustomed people to the use of similar methods."
CONDITION: Book is near fine with very mild wear and ever-so-lightly toned pages. Unmarked except for Huxley's signature on the title page. Dust jacket is VG. Price clipped with a 3" closed tear from the head on the cover with taped repair, and lightly chipped edges. A very, very nice copy.
PLEASE NOTE: This book will arrive with "signature required" upon delivery. Full refund if not satisfied. Near Fine / Very Good.
8vo.
Item #075236
Price: $1,000.00