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BATES H E : The Darling Buds of May

Michael Joseph, London, 1958

12mo - over 6? - 7? tall. unclipped DW lightly rubbed, spine split at tail of joints, half of fep is torn away, cloth lightly rubbed to edges, top edge of lower board near corner has small area frayed back to the board, generally a tidy copy, near VG but not quite, the fable of Pop Larkin and his family. Illustr.: Broome Lyne. Book Condition: Good. Binding: Cloth. Jacket: Good

First Edition

BATES,H.E**: : THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY

LONDON.MICHAEL JOSEPH,1960.

ISBN No ISBN.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.VG+/VG+.No owner inscrptn,no price-clip (12s 6d) to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,wrap-around,colour pictorial artwork by Broom Lynne, illustrated dw/dj,with with white letter to upper panel and spine/backstrip,with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners.Some minor,miniscule chipping with miniscule reciprocal loss to both head+foot of spine/backstrip of dw/dj.Some miniscule rubbing and reciprocal loss to all four corners of dw/dj.Upper panel of dw/dj has it's spine/ backstrip's gutter edge also lightly rubbed it's entire length; with small closed nicks/tears to both the top and the bottom gutter's edges.Rear panel of dw/dj, similarly affected,but with less prominent nicks/tears.Top edge of dw/dj has 4 tiny, tiny snicks (2 each to each panel's top edge).Described hard,but fairly and honestly - nowhere as bad as it sounds or may read - 99.9% present and virtually complete.Top+fore-edges dust-soiled and darkened/aged; fore-edges also tanned/ aged,but to a much lesser degree and therefore appears much brighter; contents remarkably clean - given the book's age - bright,tight,solid and sound - foxing free with a mirrored,tiny,light non-foxing blemish to lower page-edges of pp134/5 and lower 1/3rd of centre-fold to same pages.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain brick-red cloth bds with bright,crisp, stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip, with the inevitable light,off-set foxing to both pastedowns from dw/dj's inner flaps - else eps bright and clean. Miniscule bumping with reciprocal creasing to both head+foot of spine/backstrip with a miniscule (1/16th") horizontally faded edge strip to head of spine/backstrip,the foot of same minimally and minisculely frayed.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,5- 157pp [paginated] includes 9 chapters,plus [unpaginated],half-title+title pages,and 2pp blanks at rear. 'The Darling Buds of May' is a picture of the spiv-like Larkin family,who live on the fat of the land while all else about them decays,and has something of the gay, exuberant,abundant quality of a Breughel. The Larkins,with their passion for eating and drinking,dodging taxes,making love and drawing up their own peculiar and uninhibited moral code,face life as many of us would like to face it if we dared - richly,robustly and with no single thought for consequences or tomorrow.They behave as naturally as the nightingales whose song floods the woods on the edge of their junkyard paradise; they flourish as happily as the darling buds that give the book it's title. They are as pungent and real as earth and their crazy comedy of living,making a mockery of social values,restrictions and fears,blows through the book like a breath of spring. Since April 2013,and in March 2015,and again in 2016 too,the UK Post Office has increased it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its weight allowances, dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So,please contactseller,because of the lighter weight and value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.

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