THE UNDERGROUND MAN (First edition - first impression)

Mick Jackson

ISBN 10: 0330349554 / ISBN 13: 9780330349550

Published by Picador (An imprint of Pan Macmillan), London, 1997

About this Item

First impression of the true first edition, with a complete number string 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 on the printer's page. Mick Jackson's debut novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. ***Near fine in maroon cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. The gilt is beautifully bright. Head and tail of spine uncreased. No reading lean to the spine. Spine tight. Page block edges clean. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean. No creases or tears. Red endpapers. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £15.99. The dustwrapper is complete with no chips, creases or tears. No fading. Dustwrapper bright. Unusually, the dustwrapper folds out to make a poster. The folds are undamaged. ***268 pages including a two-page Author's Note at the back of the book. 224mm x 144mm. ***'Mr Bird has just completed the network of tunnels beneath the Duke's estate ("sterling work"), a subterranean world of drives wide enough to take Grimshaw's coach and four. Young Mr Bowen has finished the gateposts "we've got onions by the lodge at Norton and cauliflowers out at Belph"). But His Grace is far from happy. On his isolated estate the Duke is at the mercy of his household staff. His rare appearances are misinterpreted and local gossip has inflated his eccentricities into lunatic deformities. No one, not even he, understands hos most persistent ache, a pain of absence, an elusive memory that no amount of tunnelling or searching can bring to light. The Duke's slow piecing together of the truth about his past builds to a conclusion of powerful emotional intensity'. (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***'Mick Jackson (born 1960) is a British writer from England, best known for his novel "The Underground Man" (1997). The book, based on the life of William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and for the 1997 Whitbread Award for best first novel."' (Wikii) ***First impression of the true first edition, in the original fold-out dustwrapper, in beautiful near fine condition. Already uncommon in the first impression. ***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 # 8903

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE UNDERGROUND MAN (First edition - first impression)
• Publisher: Picador (An imprint of Pan Macmillan), London
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0330349554
• ISBN 13: 9780330349550
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: First Impression
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature
  • First Editions

About this title

Synopsis

The eccentric Fifth Duke of Portland built a series of tunnels beneath his home, devised a series of dumb waiters to carry him around the vast house, and gave each of his labourers a donkey and an umbrella. This is a fictional account of his last months.

Review

Mick Jackson makes films. It's no surprise, then, that his first novel, The Underground Man, should be so economically told, the action evoking a mise en scène. The novel takes the form of journal entries interspersed with eyewitness accounts from servants and neighbors. The "Underground Man" portrayed in the novel, William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott, the Duke of Portland and a resident of Nottinghamshire, England, is mightily eccentric; the man was real (1800-1879), as was his eccentricity. Historical fact: the Duke commissioned eight tunnels on his estate. Present-day fact: if you walk the estate today, you see the skylights--2' in diameter and 4" thick. But why did he build them?

In the last few days of the Duke's life, eccentricity burgeons; madness follows. The reader learns that his odd view of the world was shaped by early tragedy, the full truth of which is withheld until the last few pages.

The Underground Man is that most delectable blend of fact and fiction, one in which the intriguing details of a real life are richly explored through imagination.