SPEAK, MEMORY: A Memoir.
by NABOKOV, Vladimir:
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Victor Gollancz. 1951. First UK edition, first printing. First UK edition, first printing. Publisher's original blue cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in the dustwrapper, the front panel showing a nineteenth-century illustration of the Mariinsky Palace, St Isaac's Cathedral and the Blue Bridge in St Petersburg. A very good copy, the binding firm and square, the contents, except for some light spotting to upper and fore-edges of the page block, and light offsetting to endpapers, are clean throughout. Upper spine tip lightly bumped. In the dustwrapper, rubbed and chipped to edges and extremities, with some light spotting (more visible to the reverse). There is the ghostly trace of a sticker (now removed) visible to the lower portion of the rear panel. Both the binding and dustwrapper are in their second state, the book in blue rather than green cloth, the dustwrapper with the 'Daily Mail Book of the Month' insignia overprinted to the spine and lower edge of the front flap, as issued. Not price-clipped (16/- net to the front flap). A presentable copy, in a better than usual example of the notoriously fragile wrapper. The US edition of Nabokov's memoir, issued the same year as the UK version, was titled 'Conclusive Evidence: A Memoir'. 'Speak Memory, the title given to this UK edition, was the one kept when the work was reissued in both US and UK in 1967. The later version (subtitled 'An Autobiography Revisited') was extensively revised in light of the author's 1954 translation of the work into Russian from the original English. In the foreword to the revision, Nabokov explained that "[w]hile writing the first version in America I was handicapped by an almost complete lack of data in regard to family history, and, consequently, by the impossibility of checking my memory when I felt it might be at fault. [...] What I still have not been able to rework through want of specific documentation, I have now preferred to delete for the sake of over-all truth." The work is composed of fifteen discrete (though intricately connected) autobiographical essays, earlier versions of which had appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine. It is dedicated, as always, to the author's wife, Véra. (Field 1096). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Lucius Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 24328
- Title
- SPEAK, MEMORY: A Memoir.
- Author
- NABOKOV, Vladimir:
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- First UK edition, first printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Victor Gollancz. 1951
Terms of Sale
Lucius Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Lucius Books
Biblio member since 2015
York, North Yorkshire
About Lucius Books
Our shop is located in central York within a stones throw of the historic Micklegate Bar and walls. We are open seven days a week and carry a high quality stock specialising in but not limited to first editions, signed copies, bound sets and childrens / illustrated books and original art. Our opening times are 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sundays.Lucius Books is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) trade associations. If you are unable to make it to the shop then our stock is available to view on our website at www.luciusbooks.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Second State
- used in book collecting to refer to a first edition, but after some change has been made in the printing, such as a correction,...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....