Nancy Esdaile (1 results)

Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First British Ediiton. First edition in English, cloth issue. (Precedes the American edition. Follows the Indian and Iranian editions.) Signed by translator D.P. Costello on the front free endpaper, with a few of his amendations to text and jacket in ink. [vi], 134, [1] pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine with lean to binding, small spot to fore edge of text block and light offsetting to endsheets; notations in Costello's hand on p. 72, 93, 97, 105 and rear flap of jacket where he has boldly crossed "This author, a Persian disciple of Sartre. " accompanied by a clearly vexed No!!! and rear cover with the birth and death dates of the Hedayat handwritten underneath the author's photo. In a Very Good unclipped dust jacket with shallow chipping to spine ends, light wear at extremities and rubbing to covers. Originally published in Bombay as a limited, handwritten, and photocopied edition of 50 copies in anticipation of Iranian censors. Banned in Iran many times over for its transgressive elements, it was eventually well-received in France, where the author lived in exile until his suicide in 1951. The Blind Owl would be lauded by the likes of surrealist Andre Breton and author Henry Miller, who described it as the best book he had ever read. It was later adapted into film several times, most notably by the avant-garde Chilean director Raul Ruiz in 1987. The translator was a New Zealand-born diplomat, linguist, and alleged high-level KGB spy. This British edition was published not long before the first murmurings of Costello's alleged use by the Soviets came to light, although it was only long after his 1964 death that the magnitude of his alleged espionage work would be unearthed, particularly in the The Mitrokhin Archive. An very interesting, unique copy of the foundational text of modern Persian literature. Signed.