Junction by Dunn, Signed (4 results)

1st Edition. 110 pages. 1st edition. Near fine hardback covers in a near fine pictorial dust jacket Internally fine. Exceptionally signed by the author on card on the front free endpaper. Scarce Nell Dunn signature.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. The First UK Printing published by MacGibbon & Kee, London in 1963. 8vo., dark blue boards, gilt to spine; photographic pink and black wrapper by Tina Tranter (12s 6d net); illustrated with line drawings throughout by Susan Benson; The BOOK is in near Fine condition, lightly pushed at the spine ends and faintly offset to end-papers ; previous ownership name neatly inked to the upper front paste-down; the Very Good+ WRAPPER creased and rubbed along folds, with some staining and dark splash marks to the lower panel; spine tips with some heavier creases, and a couple of nicks; evidence of toning to verso. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. The first edition of the author's debut work, signed 'Nell Dunn' to the title page, and dated in the year of publication. Set in 1960s Battersea, Up the Junction is a collection of short stories which explores the lives of three women - Rube, Lily and Sylvie - who work in a sweet factory by day, and paint the town red by night. Originally published as a series of articles in the New Statesman, the present collection features such stories as Bang on the Common, Out with the Boys and Death of an Old Scrubber, and was noted at the time for its use of colloquial slang, as well as its frank and often graphic depictions of sex, thievery and back street abortion, relatively controversial and unexplored topics for the time. The book won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize in the year of publication, a prize given to an author aged 35 years or younger, with Dunn just 27 when it was released. Her candid depictions of 'clip-joint hustles, candid sexual encounters, casual birth and casual death' saw her achieve a certain degree of fame, and the work was followed in 1967 by her first full-length novel, 'Poor Cow'. In 1968, the book was adapted into a popular film with a soundtrack by Manfred Mann. The band 'Squeeze' later used the title for their 1979 hit, with its opening line also portraying life in Battersea ("I never thought it would happen with me and the girl from Clapham"). "She loved the energy she found up The Junction, the vitality, the lack of pretension" one reviewer writes, with the New Statesmen also claiming that she"rework[ed] a national literary tradition, the love affair between the classes." Scarce signed. More images available on request. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact. Signed by Author(s).

Hard Cover. Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket. First Edition. First UK Edition. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Publisher's dark blue boards with gilt spine lettering. Pale offsetting to both the front and rear end-papers and a touch of foxing to the top edge otherwise VG indeed in like D/W rubbed to the spine tips but with NO TONING to the front panel's pink edges (a frequent flaw) and with very light handling marks to the back panel. FLAT-SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE FRONT FREE END-PAPER. This book was signed at a screening of "Poor Cow" together with Screentalk (between Nell Dunn and Terence Stamp) held at the Barbican cinema on June 23, 2016. Laid in are the flyer and the cinema ticket from the event. An exceedingly uncommon book to find signed. "Up the Junction" is generally considered to be Nell Dunn's best and most influential early work. The basis for the 1968 movie of the same name directed by Peter Collinson starring Suzy Kendall, Dennis Waterman and Maureen Lipman. The author's first publication - a series of short stories written at the age of 26. Rare. Photographs/scans available upon request. Signed by Author.

A first edition, first printing of 'Up The Junction' published by Macgibbon Kee in 1963. A near fine book - inscribed on the front free endpaper by the Author - 'For Christopher/With my love/Nell'. In the near fine unclipped wrapper - a touch rubbed to the corners. Christopher Jeremy Sandford was Nell Dunn's first husband from 1957 to 1979.