About this Item
Third impression of the true first edition, published in November 1929 - the same year as the first impression. Illustrated with eight monochrome plates, including a full-page frontispiece portrait of Robert Graves. With the Erratum slip present, tipped in to p.396 - interestingly, the slip incorrectly states p.398 as the error reference page! **Very good in red cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The gilt is still nice and bright. The boards are rubbed and creased at the edges, mainly at the top and tail of the spine, and the cloth is slightly torn and frayed at the top and bottom of the spine. The cloth covering is marked in places, through age and handling, particularly on the back board where there is a light stain near the edge. Some creasing to the spine which is also slightly faded. The binding feels slightly strained, but there is no splitting to the endpapers or the page block. The book is produced using nice quality paper. Internally also very good, with no inscriptions or annotations'. There is none of the usual offsetting to the front and rear endpapers and no foxing to the interior pages which are clean. A few of the top corner tips are slightly creased. No dustwrapper. ***208mm x 146mm. 446 pages. ***'Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 Jul 1895 - 7 Dec 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celticists and students of Irish mythology. Graves produced more than 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, his translations and innovative analysis of the Greek myths, his memoir of his early life--including his role in World WarOne--"Good-Bye to All That", and his speculative study of poetic inspiration "The White Goddess" have never been out of print. He is also a renowned short story writer, with stories such as 'The Tenement' still being popular today. He earned his living from writing, particularly popular historical novels such as "I, Claudius"; "King Jesus"; "The Golden Fleece"; and "Count Belisarius". He also was a prominent translator of Classical Latin and Ancient Greek texts; his versions of "The Twelve Caesars" and "The Golden Ass" remain popular for their clarity and entertaining style. Graves was awarded the 1934 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for both "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God"'. ***'Good-Bye to All That" first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I had recently broken a good many conventions". The title may also point to the passing of an old order following the cataclysm of the First World War; the supposed inadequacies of patriotism, the interest of some in atheism, feminism, socialism and pacifism, the changes to traditional married life, and not least the emergence of new styles of literary expression, are all treated in the work, bearing as they did directly on Graves's life. The unsentimental and frequently comic treatment of the banalities and intensities of the life of a British army officer in the First World War gave Graves fame, notoriety and financial security, but the book's subject is also his family history, childhood, schooling and, immediately following the war, early married life; all phases bearing witness to the "particular mode of living and thinking" that constitute a poetic sensibility. Laura Riding, Graves's lover, is credited with being a "spiritual and intellectual midwife" to the work.' [Wiki] ***Third impression of the first edition of the classic autobiography by poet and novelist Robert Graves. A good original copy with excellent maps and illustrations. ***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. Seller Inventory # 8165
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