Various (Ford, Charles Henri (Editor); Bowles, Paul; Calder, Alexander; Carrington, Leonora; De Chirico, Giorgio; Miller, Henry; Tanguy, Yves; Tchelitchew, Pavel et al.)

A Night with Jupiter and Other Fantastic Stories

London, England, UK: Dennis Dobson Limited, 1947. First UK Edition. Hardcover. "Each of these modern stories has its unique and irresistible charm. The range of locale and fancy is from deepest Chicago to an impossible but fascinating Africa, from a dream vision of Mobile, Alabama to the psychic life of a buzzard." (from front flap) An amazing compilation of stories & illustrations edited by Charles Henri Ford (1908-2002), the Mississippi-born cult proto-& post-Beat writer, artist, LGBT pioneer & polymath who was the brother of the noted actress Ruth Ford & who hobnobbed personally & professionally with almost every noted creative figure one could think of over most of the twentieth century- as exemplified by the roster of authors & artists contributing to this volume. Beginning with the title story by Henry Miller (1891-1980), the great American author whose early works were a major influence on the Beat Generation, this collection includes contributions of stories by Paul Bowles, Leonora Carrington (known more famously as a great Surrealist artist), Giorgio De Chirico (ditto) & many others; & is graced with reproduced illustrations throughout by such iconic artists as Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy & Pavel Tchelitchew, again mostly Giants of the Surrealist movement of which Ford was a member, promoter & publisher. First published in the USA in 1945, offered here is the first UK edition of 1947, hardcover in dust jacket with all first-printing points (though not explicated as such at copyright page) in Shifreen & Jackson, B32(b), pg. 578. A wonderous, indeed sui generis literature-&-art collectible in its penultimately rarest & (we think) most beautiful form. Book in relatively quite fine condition with only very mild rubbing, faint scratching to blue-colored cloth front, back covers & spine (silver-gilt letters, graphics on spine & eye motif on front cover appear completely bright & intact); mild-to-moderate wear at edges & corners of same incl. some loss of surface color & in one tiny instance loss of cloth at lower right corner of front cover; mild-to-moderate rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior (again relatively) fine with mild browning, occasional spotting to blank white paste-downs & endpapers; cursive gift inscription to previous owner dated "Xmas 1955" in blue ink at front endpaper; mild-to-moderate browning to page leaves, chiefly at blank margins/edges. Dust jacket poor-fair with mild-to-significant rubbing, browning, faint scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers, esp. spine & flaps; moderate-to-significant wear at edges & corners of same with bumps, creases, mostly closed tears & chips incl. loss of paper esp. at upper & lower portions of spine, several small-medium holes at otherwise-intact middle portion of same. Fine / Poor- Fair. [Item #6022]

Price: $50.00 save 15% $42.50