Shaw, George Bernard

The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God

London, England: Constable & Company Limited, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. "I hold, as firmly as St. Thomas Aquinas, that all truths, ancient or modern, are divinely inspired; but I know by observation and introspection that the instrument on which the inspiring force plays may be a very faulty one, and may even end, like Bunyan in The Holy War, by making the most ridiculous nonsense of his message." (from afterword, pg. 59) A satirical, allegorical short work by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), the canonical Irish playwright & polemicist. In this story, an African girl asks a none-too-intelligent missionary "Where is God?". Unsatisfied with the missionary's rote doctrinal answer, the girl goes on a quest, encountering other advisors & thinking for herself. Shaw's lengthy, sparklingly witty afterward follows the story. With many beautiful illustrations & motifs on covers & throughout by John Farleigh (1900-1965), the noted British engraver. Hardcover in illustrated boards issued without dust jacket, "First Edition December 1932" as stated on copyright page. A beautiful production, & an essential collectible in the ever-controversial & influential Shaw oeuvre in its rarest original form. In relatively near-fine condition with mild rubbing & browning to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same with very slight loss of black surface paper esp. at spine-edges, corners; moderate rubbing, browning & spotting to edges of text block esp. side edge. Interior near-fine with slight browning, occasional spotting to illustrated paste-downs & endpapers; vintage book plate with signature of previous owner affixed to recto of blank leaf preceding shorter title page; mild browning mostly to blank margins of page leaves; mild-to-moderate spotting to first & last ten-or-so of same; much less mostly to blank margins of some other of same; tiny bumps & very small, faint creases at upper corners of a few of same. Near Fine. [Item #5172]

Price: $100.00