Juan Rulfo Lysander Kemp (1 results)

First American Edition. First Printing, cloth issue. Octavo (21cm); full dark gray cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [iv],123,[1]pp. Faint abrasion to rear pastedown, else very Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.75), and like every other copy we've handled, measures 1/8" taller than the book; gentle sunning to spine, shallow loss at crown; with a few tiny splits and tears; a bright example, Very Good+ to Near Fine. The Mexican author's second book and first novel, following a young man's quest to find his father as he navigates an arid ghost town populated by spectral figures. Rulfo (1917-1986), one of the progenitors of magical realism, was a major influence on the Latin American boom which would come more than a decade after this, and his first book, El Llano En Llamas, were published. The novel was not immediately successful in his native Mexico, taking 4 years to exhaust a tiny first printing of 2,000 copies. Grove published the book in four issues: an Evergreen paperback, a trade edition, the deluxe issue, and one of 4 specially bound hors commerce copies. The novel would prove a critical influence on the writing of Carlos Fuentes, Jose Donoso, Salman Rushdie, and most notably, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who after reading it was inspired to write One Hundred Years of Solitude, and who was said to be able to recite the whole book by heart. Scarce.