Eberhardt, Isabelle (Bowles, Paul)

The Oblivion Seekers

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1975. First Edition. Softcover. "If Alexander Trophimowsky had not taken charge of his illegitimate daughter's education and upbringing, no one would have ever heard of Isabelle Eberhardt. By obliging her to perform hard physical labor outdoors alongside her brothers during her childhood and adolescence, he made it possible for her to withstand the rigors of the spartan life she was to live later on. By insisting that she appear regularly, dressed in men's clothing, not only at home but in public, he assured her the subsequent ease she felt in wearing male disguise, a device which was to prove a sine qua non in the Sahara. Had he not bought her a horse and taught her to ride it properly while she was still a child, she would have had no mobility in the desert. He saw to it that she grew up a polyglot, even teaching her to read and write Arabic when she asked for it. Trophimowsky had been a friend of Mikhail Bakunin (an intellectual rival to Karl Marx who predicted Marxism's catastrophic failures) and was full of untried theories of education...her life seems haphazard, at the mercy of caprice, but her writings prove otherwise. She did not make decisions; she was impelled to take action. Her nature combined an extraordinary singleness of purpose and an equally powerful nostalgia for the unattainable. Over the years the goal imperceptibly changed from the idea of simple escape to the obsession of total freedom..." So writes legendary literary expatriate Paul Bowles (1910-1999) in his informative 11-page capsule biography of Isabelle Wilhelmine Marie Eberhardt (1877-1904). As a teenager, Eberhardt published short stories under a male pseudonym, and she later wrote for a newspaper published by one Victor Barrucand, who began publishing her remaining manuscripts in 1906 to critical acclaim. Bowles' interest in Eberhardt was piqued in 1954, when "...author and explorer Cecily Mackworth published the biography 'The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt' after following Eberhardt's routes in Algeria and the Sahara." After Bowles encountered Mackworth's book, he began the process of translating from Eberhardt's extant publications, culminating in the work presently offered here. Eberhardt is almost like a distant cousin to Arthur Rimbaud- both shared "a contempt for the bourgeoisie" and the prim-&-proper values with which they were associated, a taste for kif (and other intoxicants) and a stubborn commitment to their ideas/ideals of "freedom"- despite whatever incursions upon their health and security that commitment might bring. Both died young- Eberhardt at that most notorious of death-years, 27; & Rimbaud at 37- after prolonged African sojourns. Trade-format softcover original, first edition, from first printing of 3000 copies per & with all other points in Cook, No. 112, pg.120- an exemplary production of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's iconic City Lights imprint. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England founded by Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famous American-expatriate poet, publisher & bookseller). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item No.s 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but also is now closed, & he still resides there. We have been privileged to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining gems (including this) from Unicorn & Public House. Third Mind Books is proceeding to reverently curate & present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy which is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. A classic Eberhardt-Bowles-City Lights collectible in its rarest contemporary form, with most-distinguished & relevant provenance. In relatively near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, mostly faint scratching, age-toning & spotting to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; mild rubbing, age-toning & moderate spotting to edges of text block. Interior fine with only a hint of age-toning to blank inner covers & page leaves; mild spotting to rear inner cover; miniscule bleeding of spots noted above onto edges & corners of some page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of some leaves. We have retained Unicorn's (or more likely Public House's) hand-written price in pencil at upper right margin of recto first leaf/title page- a quaint relic of its heritage, in British currency. Near Fine. [Item #8517]

Price: $40.00