Books

First edition, first impression, first issue, inscribed by the author on the title page, "For Philip Murray, best wishes, Bruce Chatwin, Nov '88". A noted Irish bibliophile and author of The Adventures of a Book Collector (2011), the sale of Murray's library was Ireland's largest ever single sale of first edition books. Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) was an English travel writer, novelist, and journalist. In 1982 he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel for his novel On the Black Hill and in 1988 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novel Utz. In Patagonia is Chatwin's first book. This copy is first issue, with printed map endpapers: later issues were blank. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blue map endpapers. With dust jacket. Black and white map frontispiece, 4 black and white double-sided photographic plates. Spine a little cocked, one corner bumped, a few trivial spots of foxing. A near-fine copy in like jacket, spine panel just sunned, unclipped, a touch of foxing to verso and flaps, free from nicks and rubbing, very fresh and sharp.

In Patagonia is Bruce Chatwin's exquisite account of his journey through the fascinating region of Patagonia, combining history, anecdote, and keen observation as he reflects on the nature of travel and the human desire for adventure.