The Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) were published at various times throughout his life, both before and after his celebrated Fables, between 1664 and 1685, and even posthumously. In quite a different key from the more innocent Fables, the Contes often threatened to get him in trouble with both Church and Acadmie. It was, indeed, the bawdy tales of Boccaccio, Rabelais, and other medieval and renaissance masters of ribaldry that inspired La Fontaine's Contes, presented here in a chronologically and stylistically diverse selection translated by Norman R. Shapiro. This spirited recent translation, spanning the entire corpus, offers about half the tales, from early to late, in all their variety of lengths and poetic narrative forms. The mildly suggestive mingle with the frankly bawdy, while others would hardly raise a vicar's eyebrow. Yet all these gems from one of France's truly great poets, scrupulously faithful to the originals, are rendered with the spirit of his style, his subtle rhythms, cadences, rhymes, and delectable wit left intact. 273pp. N.B. Corners slightly creased.
Princeton University Press, 1992, Paperback, Book Condition: Very Good, Jacket Condition: No d/j as Published. First Edition. . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

ISBN: 0691015325

Inventory #24881

Price: £ 9.50 GBP ($ 11.40 approx. - € 10.07 approx.)

Translated from the French by Peter Green.Head of book spine slightly bumped.Previous owner's signature on ffep.Some rubbing to head and tail of d/j spine and top edge of d/j.Price on d/j intact but crossed out with two reductions in pen.But overall quite a nice copy of a scarce book.
Hamish Hamilton, 1967, Cloth, Book Condition: Good, Jacket Condition: Good. First English Edition. . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

ISBN: 024191339X

Inventory #20633

Price: £ 50.00 GBP ($ 60.00 approx. - € 53.00 approx.)

Discusses Thurber's private life, agony over going blind at the height of his career, inexhaustible humor, literary and artistic talents, and lasting popularity more than thirty years after his death. 204pp. N.B. Bottom corners of boards marked. Edges of D/J slightly discoloured.
University of Nebraska Press, 1994, Cloth, Book Condition: Very Good, Jacket Condition: Good. Second Printing. . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

ISBN: 080322155X

Inventory #27825

Price: £ 7.50 GBP ($ 9.00 approx. - € 7.95 approx.)

Widely read in the age of British imperialism and still popular today, the five writers studied here have allowed millions to participate vicariously in the imperial project. Yet all of these writers, so instrumental in popularising the imperial agenda of power and dominance, bore deep emotional scars and as adults bolstered their fragile psychic states through fantasies of empire. While soldiers and politicians may know to bury or at least camouflage their fears and desires, inner fantasy is the necessary ingredient of literature, and popular fiction often offers the opportunity to probe the mind of an age. The connection between childhood loss and the desire for imperial escape, power and dominance is illuminated by De Quincey's mad screeds against the Chinese as both terrifyingly powerful and laughably weak, while Stevenson's romances, though written from an invalid's bed, are credited with 'selling' the idea of empire as manly adventure. Conan Doyle's tales of a Britain menaced at home by imperial blowback are models of Great Power paranoia that resonate today, and Kipling's stories of imperial Britain grow increasingly grandiose as childhood's psychic wounds are re-opened. Finally, Dinesen portrays plantation life in British East Africa as a gentle romance in which displaced African "squatters" serve as loyal and adoring retainers, providing the aristocratic aura for which the author yearns. It is sometimes said that, "Love's loss is empire's gain", and for these writers, Simmons shows, empire presented a magnificent opportunity to compensate for childhood calamity.148pp.
Sussex Academic Press, 2007, Cloth, Book Condition: New, Jacket Condition: New. First Edition. . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

ISBN: 1845191560

Inventory #17826

Price: £ 30.00 GBP ($ 36.00 approx. - € 31.80 approx.)

The Triad was founded in 1893 and ran into the late 1920s. For its first twenty-two years it was published in New Zealand, but in 1915 publication was transferred to Sydney where it was re-launched as an Australasian magazine. The magazine offered well-informed coverage of cultural activities in New Zealand, Australia and internationally in a broad mix of critical and original writing. Notoriously outspoken, Baeyertz was feared and respected as a critic. His music criticism was particularly intelligent and rigorous, making no concessions to personality or amateur or professional status. His later co-editor, the self-styled 'decadent' Frank Morton, was equally candid. This is an engaging biography of a fascinating man which also throws new light on a long-neglected period of New Zealand's cultural past. 247pp.
University of Otago Press, 2008, Paperback, Book Condition: New, Jacket Condition: No d/j as Published. First Edition. . 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

ISBN: 9781877372551

Inventory #19937

Price: £ 15.00 GBP ($ 18.00 approx. - € 15.90 approx.)