Books

Cape, 1963. A first edition, first printing published by Cape in 1963. A near fine book with neat previous owner's name to the front endpaper. SIGNED without dedication to the title page by the Author and dated. In a near fine unclipped wrapper with some light rubbing to the spine tips and corners - spine a little faded. Rare signed.

The Collector is the debut novel of English author John Fowles. It was first published in 1963 by Jonathan Cape and is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. Clegg is infatuated with Miranda Grey, a middle-class art student at the Slade School of Art. Unable to make any contact with her but obsessed with his unrelenting desire, Clegg decides to add her to his 'collections' by kidnapping her and holding her captive in the cellar of his rural farmhouse. What follows is a chilling exploration of power, art, freedom, and the consequences of human actions.