The Ginger Man (signed copy) by J P Donleavy - 1956

London: Neville Spearman, 1956. First UK Edition 1st Printing. Original Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. 19 x 13 Cms (7.5" x 5"). PUBLISHING DETAILS: A signed, first UK printing of J P Donleavy's first novel, in its original dustjacket, published by Neville Spearman of London in 1956. 292 pages. Size: 19 x 13 cms (7.5" x 5"). Weight: 378g (0.8 pounds). CONDITION: I would rate the book and dustjacket as very good. The book's original light blue cloth covers are clean, bright and sound, with slight spine lean. The binding is tight and secure throughout. The text is clean, bright and free from foxing. The endpapers are free from labels and there is an owner's name inscribed on the front pastedown. J P Donleavy has signed a book plate in his characteristic red ink and this is affixed opposite the title page (see photos). The unclipped dustjacket is clean, save for a small mark on the back (see photos) and is entire, though with wear to the top and tail of the spine and the corners. It is now protected in a clear, removable sleeve. All in all, a sound example of a signed first edition of this collectible classic. THE NOVEL: This is the first edition published in Britain, following that of the Paris company Olympia Press, who published it under their pornography imprint - which infuriated Donleavy when he found out. The novel is a 'terra incognita' of sexual encounters in late 1940s Dublin is mapped in the often racy misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a student of law at Trinity College, who lives in Dublin with his English wife and infant daughter. Dangerfield, an American Protestant of Irish descent, is commonly believed to be a fictional version of the author, or perhaps more broadly, a composite of Donleavy and his contemporaries at Trinity. The Ginger Man has sold 45 million copies world-wide and has never been out of print. It was named one of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century by the Modern Library in 1998. CONTEMPORARY REVIEWS: 'What really makes The Ginger Man a vital work is the fact that it both reflects and comments dramatically on the absurdities of an age clinging to values in which it simply cannot believe and unable to summon up the courage to find out what its moral convictions really are.' - The New York Times. 'The Ginger Man still reads well today, once one becomes accustomed to its headlong rush of style, its frequent verbless sentences, the switch of tenses and the manic swing between first and third persons as it lunges to catch the protagonist's babbling thoughts [.] In other places, the prose hops along alliteratively, with hints of Joyce and Dylan Thomas.' - The Guardian.