Books

First editions, first impressions; 4 vols, 8vo; comprising Justine, publisher's red cloth with gilt title on a pale blue background, pale blue topstain, dust-jacket; Balthazar, publisher's blue cloth with gilt title on a red background, dust-jacket; Mountolive, publisher's yellow cloth with gilt title on a purple background, dust-jacket; Clea, publisher's red cloth with gilt title on a dark green background, dust-jacket, ownership signatures to front endpapers of Justine and Mountolive, dust-jackets, rubbed, somewhat faded and chipped but still a very good set. Unusually the first and scarcest title (Justine) is in much better condition than the others. At the age of 11, Durrell, who was born in the North of India near Tibet, was sent 'home' to England to be educated. He disliked living in such a different country and culture and never fully adjusted to it, even after his father's early death in 1932 when his mother returned with the rest of the family to live in England. Later, in 1935, following his first marriage, Durrell moved with his mother and his siblings to Corfu, which he felt reminded him of India. While in Greece, he drafted a novel entitled The Book of the Dead, a predecessor to his first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. However, it was only much later, in 1952, after his return to the Mediterranean, Durrell began actually writing Justine. During the 1940s he had worked for the British Information Office in Egypt. He was separated from his first wife, Nancy Myers, and in Alexandria he met Eve Cohen, a Jewish woman on whom the character of Justine is loosely based and who became his second wife. Durrell would eventually complete the Quartet in France.

Mountolive is the third volume of The Alexandria Quartet series by British author Lawrence Durrell. Set in pre-World War II Alexandria, Egypt, Mountolive is part of a sequence of novels that tell a complex story of passion, politics, and betrayal. The series is celebrated for its rich and intricately woven narrative and exploration of modern love.