About this Item
First impression of the first UK edition. The book was first published in the USA by Harcourt, Brace & Co, New York, in 1959. ***Very good in black cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The gilt is still nice and bright. Head and tail of spine creased. There is a 'Boots Booklovers Library' sticker to the front board. Very light foxing to the fore-edge of the page block. Internally nice and clean, with just a small mark to the margin of p.18. No inscriptions. Spine tight. Dustwrapper design by Hugh Walker. ***In a very good colour illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of 21s net. Dustwrapper rubbed and creased at the edges, with some small loss at the head of the spine and tips of the folds. Rear panel of dustwrapper is discoloured (being a matt-white background). Browning to the foldover edges. Small closed tear and associated creasing to the lower corner of the front flap. Light creases to the rear flap. Front panel and spine are bright and clean without fading. ***421 pages. 205 mm x 140 mm. ***Lillian Smith's new novel will strike at the feelings of a sensitive reader even more powerfully than did its predecessor - "Strange Fruit" - which, with a sale of over one million copies, has been universally acclaimed as one of the most disturbing novels of the mid-century. Whereas "Strange Fruit" could only have come from that forcing-house of dramatic fiction - the Deep South of the United States - "One Hour" shows in its theme and setting that man's inhumanity to man can spring from other sources than racial conflict, and can lead to consequences as appalling psychologically, if not physically, as negro lynching. Briefly, its theme is the senseless but ruthless hounding down of three civilized people simply because they represent to a fear-stricken mob the victory of reason over suspicion, false-witness, and irrational fear. ***A gifted research scientist in a small American university town is accused of an attempted assault on a girl of eight. For him, for his wife, and for the dedicated young clergyman who loves them both, the consequences are immediate and terrifying, for, on the unsupported word of the lonely, imaginative, deeply-troubled child who made the accusation, the community to which they belong, provoked by curiosity, dread, and suspicion, is driven on by the forces of unreason to violence and, ultimately, to inevitable tragedy. ***"One Hour" is not only an intensely exciting story but also a study of human motives, perceived with most unusual insight. It is indeed much more than the story of what happened, or did not happen, in the space of a single hour: there is another "hour" - an illuminating image of "our small period of time, our age."' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***First UK edition of this work in the original dustwrapper. This British first edition is harder to find than the preceding American first edition. ***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 # 7562
Contact seller
Report this item
Bibliographic Details
Title: ONE HOUR [First UK edition]
Publisher: The Cresset Press, London
Publication Date: 1960
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: Jacket design by Hugh Walker
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First UK Edition
