Chatwin, Bruce

The Viceroy of Ouidah

ISBN: 0671412531
New York, NY: Summit Books/ Simon & Schuster, 1980. First American Edition. Hardcover. "The Viceroy of Ouidah begins with the reunion of the numerous descendants of Francisco Felix da Silva- a poor white Brazilian who, Bruce Chatwin tells us, "was by the 1830s the richest man in West Africa....He died a ruined man."...The Viceroy of Ouidah tells...of the man who became the "best friend" of the King of Dahomey, was granted the title of Viceroy of Ouidah and a monopoly over the sale of slaves, and fathered "sixty-three mulatto sons and daughters," whose now-black descendants gather each year to "mourn the Slave Trade as a lost Golden Age." It is a portrait of that age- with all its ghastly ironies, its grim hilarity, its disquieting echoes for today- which Bruce Chatwin renders here." (from front flap) The second work published during the lifetime of Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989), the acclaimed, award-winning British travel writer & novelist who died tragically of AIDS at the age of only 48. This exemplary historical novel, based on fact & stranger-than-fiction, was the basis for the 1987 film version entitled Cobra Verde directed by Werner Herzog & starring Klaus Kinski as the slave-trading anti-hero Francisco Felix (or Manuel as referred to in the UK edition) da Silva. Hardcover in price-clipped dust jacket (first issue with "1280" printed on rear flap), first American edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page, published the same year (1980) as the first UK edition (see our item No. 4601). An unforgettable literary classic; an essential Chatwin collectible in one of its rarest original forms. Book in very fine condition with only slight rubbing, fading to thin edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; moderate spotting to upper edge of text block; much less to side & lower edges of same. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps at upper edges near corners of a few page leaves; miniscule bleeding of spots noted above onto thin side & upper edges of a few of same. Dust jacket very fine with only a touch of rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a bit of wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4628]

Price: $100.00