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First impression of the true first edition. This copy signed and inscribed by the author neatly in ink on the title page: 'To Janet and Stuart Clarke with every good wish. Stanley Middleton.' ***Near fine in brown cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Corners sharp - just slight crease to bottom corner tip of front board. No reading lean to the binding. Very light unobtrusive off-setting to the endpapers. Small unobtrusive splash mark to the bottom edge of the page block, not affecting interior pages - page block edges otherwise clean. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions (other than the author's). Pages clean and bright. ***In a very good colour illustrated dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £1.95 net. The dustwrapper is complete, but has a short closed tear and associated crease to the top edge of the front panel, and a small scuff to the top edge of the front panel near the head of the spine. Edges very slightly rubbed. Back panel of dustwrapper very slightly yellowed. Dustwrapper bright. No fading. ***224 pages. 204mm x 136mm. ***'Old age is a notoriously difficult subject for the novelist to tackle, but one curiously appropriate to Stanley Middleton's sensitive, unsentimental, direct approach. Set, like all his widely praised novels, in a Midlands town, "Cold Gradations" is a study of James Mansfield, who has spent most of his life in a grammar-schoolroom, and is now lonely in retirement, conscious, after a serious heart-attack of his body's degeneration, half convinced of his uselessness, but trying to live vicariously, through the career of his highly successful, brilliant and loved son, David, a business tycoon who has forgotten his father's ideals. And yet Mansfield is constantly drawn into the lives of others in ways he sometimes resents, which fail to give him much comfort, but which, because of his lifetime's training, he cannot ignore. ***There is the marriage of David which is on the brink of breaking up, to Mansfield's regret rather than that of the estranged husband and wife. He is out of touch with them, yet manages to establish some rapport with their schoolgirl daughter. ***There are his 'neighbours', the Hapgoods, into whose tragic lives he is unwillingly drawn, though his intervention seems sadly without permanent effect. ***When we take our leave of Mansfield, he is still a sad figure, with a low regard for his own worth. Yet people turn to him with their troubles and seem to derive some comfort from his solid, academic attitude. He may feel old and useless, but in some strange way he is still necessary, still involving himself.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***'Mr Middleton tells his tale with a driving and subtle authority. His portrait of English provincial life, with its delicately graded snobberies, is masterly; it is in the honorable, even-tempered tradition of J. B. Priestley rather than that of the 'young angries' who swarmed out of this part of England in the 1950s. "Brazen Prison" is a good and solid piece of close observation - Bruce Williamson in the Irish Times (Review quote about "Brazen Prison" by Stanley Middleton taken from the back panel) ***A scarce first impression of the true first edition, in its original dustwrapper - very hard to find now, and especially so being inscribed by the author. His signed first editions are much valued and sought out by the discerning collector. ***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 # 2086x
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