Books

NABOKOV, Vladimir. Pale Fire. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1962. 8vo. First British edition. Publisher's black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket designed by Larry Carter. An excellent example, the cloth clean and bright, the binding tight and square, with a couple of minor spots to the fore-edge. The contents fine. The dust jacket unclipped (21s net), bright, sharp, the green typography to front panel a trifle marked, faint parallel toned lines to flaps and rear panel, but altogether fine. Nabokov's conundrum(ic) -- "do-it-yourself detective story" -- anti-novel novel which might well be his best. A fine copy of the British edition, which is somewhat scarcer than its US counterpart, especially so in this condition.

Pale Fire is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled 'Pale Fire', written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index by Shade's neighbor and academic colleague, Charles Kinbote. Together these elements form a narrative in which both fictional authors are central characters. The novel has been hailed as one of Nabokov's most complex and rewarding works and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.