Books

8vo. First edition, first impression. Original red cloth, gilt. Title page headpiece and d/w by the author. Neat ink ownership on fly. D/w tanned to spine, with a short closed tear to the bottom edge of the back panel and some trivial loss to the edges and corner tips and a chip to the head of the spine. Near fine in very good + dust-wrapper. The dust-wrapper is the first impression with '15s Net' and no reviews. The first book in the 'Gormenghast' trilogy introduces Titus, the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, and the riotous massing of the castle in which stultified tradition staggers on and provides room enough for the murderous rivalry of Flay and Swelter and the evil designs of Steerpike.

Titus Groan is the first novel in the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake. It tells the story of the eponymous castle, the Groan family who inhabits it, and the servants and retainers who fill its halls. It paints a richly detailed picture of a gothic landscape and the bizarre rituals and traditions that dominate the lives of its characters.