CELESTIAL NAVIGATION: A NOVEL (First UK edition - first impression)

First impression of the first UK edition. Dustwrapper photograph by Denis Straughan. Rear panel of dustwrapper photograph of Anne Tyler by Jeannie Allen. ***Please note that this is an ex-library copy (but with only one stamp and number, otherwise unmarked and pristine). ***Near fine in blue cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. Boards clean and unmarked. Edges of boards very slightly rubbed. Tail of spine very slightly rubbed. Corners sharp. Grey ink Ex-Library stamp: 'Discarded by Havering Library Service' to title page, and library classification number to bottom of title-page. No other library markings or stamps. Pages clean. No foxing. No inscriptions. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper that has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £3.00 net. The dustwrapper is complete without any chips or tears, and has not been library-laminated. No fading even to the light-sensitive red colour to the spine. Dustwrapper crisp and bright. ***204mm x 134mm. 276 pages plus a one-page note about the author at the back of the book. ***'In this wise, imaginative and moving novel, Anne Tyler creates a lonely, withdrawn human being and shows with insight and compassion what it is that has made him an artist. On his mother's death Jeremy Pauling is left sole owner of her run-down boarding house in Baltimore. An unkempt bachelor of thirty-eight years, physically terrified of wandering more than a few steps from the house, a ghost (though a meek and courteously treated one) among his tenants, he spends his time working on sculpture-like collages, making use of tacks, twine, tops of tins and whatever else comes to hand and his imagination. Then a pretty new boarder arrives, Mary Tell, with her small daughter. Mary is strong, pragmatic and only too fertilely maternal, and brings Jeremy more closeness than he can live with, and despite mutual love and striving their relationship fails. But Miss Vinton, the most faithful of the tenants, remains to provide Jeremy with the minimum human contact he requires, for she knows that he lives, as he creates, by celestial navigation: he sees from a distance, he lives at a distance. ***'Celestial Navigation has earned a wide and excellent critical reception in America - Publisher's Weekly. ***'---a must for readers who appreciate the quality novel.' [Quotes taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper] ***'Anne Tyler (born Oct 25, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. She has published twenty-three novels, including "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" (1982), "The Accidental Tourist" (1985), and "Breathing Lessons" (1988). All three were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and "Breathing Lessons" won the prize in 1989. She has also won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, the Ambassador Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012 she was awarded The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. Tyler's twentieth novel, "A Spool of Blue Thread", was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015, and "Redhead By the Side of the Road" was longlisted for the same award in 2020. She is recognized for her fully developed characters, her "brilliantly imagined and absolutely accurate detail," her "rigorous and artful style", and her "astute and open language." Tyler has been compared to John Updike, Jane Austen, and Eudora Welty, among others.' [Wiki] ***First impression of the first UK edition of Anne Tyler's fifth novel, complete in the dustwrapper, in very nice bright collectable condition. An uncommon title - of interest to collectors of Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Anne Tyler and twentieth century literary first editions. ***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. …