THE SEA, THE SEA (First edition - third impression Booker Prize winner)

Iris Murdoch

ISBN 10: 0701123397 / ISBN 13: 9780701123390

Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1978

Third impression of the true first edition, published in November 1978. The first edition appeared in August 1978, with a second impression in September 1978. With 'Winner of the Booker Prize, 1978' at the top of the front flap.

***Very good in blue-green cloth covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards show some small marks and rubbing commensurate with age and handling but are generally clean. Head and tail of spine slightly creased, with slight vertical reading creases. Corners sharp. A slight reading lean to the binding. Page block edges slightly foxed. Internally also very good, with a neat ownership name in ink at the top of the front free endpaper. Pages clean without any foxing. No creases or tears.

***In a very good colour illustrated dustwrapper, with detail from Hokusai's "The hollow of the deep-sea wave off Kanagawa" on the front cover. The dustwrapper is unpriced, and is the correct one for the printing, with details of the three impressions on the front flap (please see scans). The dustwrapper has no serious faults - just some light creasing at the head of the spine, and slight loss at the top corner of the rear inner flap, but no other creases, chips or tears. No fading, even to the spine. Dustwrapper clean and bright. ***502 pages. 205mm x 135mm.

***'This is the story of an obsession. It also concerns the use and the surrender of magical power. --- His new regime changes suddenly and completely when he encounters an "old flame" and discovers that an innocent first love is still the great love of his life.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***'Dame Jean Iris Murdoch (15 July 1919 - 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, "Under the Net" (1954), was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Her 1978 novel "The Sea, The Sea" won the Booker Prize. In 1987, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Her other books include "The Bell" (1958), "A Severed Head" (1961), "An Unofficial Rose" (1962), "The Red and the Green" (1965), "The Nice and the Good" (1968), "The Black Prince" (1973), "Henry and Cato" (1976), "The Philosopher's Pupil" (1983), "The Good Apprentice" (1985), "The Book and the Brotherhood" (1987), "The Message to the Planet" (1989), and "The Green Knight" (1993). As a philosopher, Murdoch's best-known work is "The Sovereignty of Good" (1970). She was married for 43 years, until her death, to the literary critic and author John Bayley. ***Iris Murdoch's biographer Peter J. Conradi gives Xenophon as the ultimate source of the title. According to Xenophon's Anabasis, "The Sea! The Sea!" (Thalatta! Thalatta!) was the shout of exultation given by the roaming 10,000 Greeks when, in 401 BC, they caught sight of the Black Sea from Mount Theches in Trebizond and realised they were saved from death. Conradi states that the direct source of the title is Paul Valéry's poem Le Cimetière Marin (The Graveyard by the Sea). A line in the poem's first stanza quotes the Greeks' shouts: "La mer, la mer, toujours recommencée" (the sea, the sea, forever restarting). Murdoch refers to the poem in several of her books, and this stanza appears in full at the end of chapter 4 in her 1963 novel "The Unicorn"'. (Wiki)

***A third impression of the true first edition - one of Iris Murdoch's most lauded first editions, being the winner of the 1978 Booker Prize. ***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 # 9625

Synopsis:

First published in 1978, this is the story of Charles Arrowby who, retiring from his glittering London world in order to abjure magic and become a hermit turns to the sea: turbulent and leaden, transparent and opaque, magician and mother. But he finds his solitude is peopled by the drama of his own fantasies and obsessions,

From the Inside Flap: The sea: turbulent and leaden, transparent and opaque, magician and mother... When Charles Arrowby, over sixty, a demi god of the theatre -- director, playwright and actor -- retires from his glittering London world in order to 'abjure magic and become a hermit', it is to the sea that he turns. He hopes at least to escape from 'the woman' -- but unexpectedly meets one whom he loved long ago. His buddhist cousin, James, also arrives. he is menaced by a monster from the deep. Charles finds his 'solitude' peopled by the drama of his own fantasies and obsessions.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE SEA, THE SEA (First edition - third ...
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
Publication Date: 1978
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: First Edition