The Twelve Figures of the World.

BORGES, Jorge, & Adolfo Bioy-Casares; as BUSTON [sic] DOMECQ, H. (pseud.)

Published by [Austin: University of Texas Press,] The Texas Quarterly, Autumn 1960

About this Item

First edition in English, rare offprint issue, of one of Borges's earliest appearances in English, signed by Borges in his blind hand on the front wrapper, and signed by the translator Donald Yates on the first page. This offprint marks a rare and significant stepping stone in the Borges canon, with no copies traced institutionally or in auction records. Yates has also hand-corrected the error in the author's pseudonym to the front wrapper and first page, correcting "Buston" to "Bustos". H. Bustos Domecq was the pseudonym used jointly by Borges and Adolfo Bioy-Casares. This short story, drawn from Seis problemas para Don Isidro Parodi (1942), was translated by Yates and appeared in the Texas Quarterly (vol. iii, no 3, Autumn, 1960) and is here presented in the very scarce offprint format. It represents one of the earliest appearances of Borges's writing in English, preceding by two years the influential collection Labyrinths (1962), which Yates himself translated (jointly with James Irby). Yates was also the man responsible for getting Borges his very first published appearance in English, when he brought the story "The Garden of Forking Paths" to the attention of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (published August 1948, trans. Anthony Boucher). Octavo. Original printed wrappers, stapled at the fold. Light diagonal creases across wrappers and inside from having been gently bent at some point, some mild toning around edges, small faint stain to upper fore-edge affecting wrappers and margins within, very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 139334

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Twelve Figures of the World.
• Publisher: [Austin: University of Texas Press,] The Texas Quarterly, Autumn 1960
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)