Books

First edition, first impression, later issue binding, of the author's first published book. The publisher R. A. Caton was an elusive one-man publisher who founded The Fortune Press, based at 12 Buckingham Palace Road, in 1924. He specialized in gay writing (several Fortune Press productions were burned after the 1934 obscenity trials), and in taking on new poets (whom he rarely paid - but could afford to publish due to judicious stockpiling of paper stock during the war years). He published Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, and Philip Larkin, as well as Kingsley Amis, who delighted in the "Caton mystique" and wrote him into four of his novels as a thinly disguised rogue. Octavo. Rebound in near-contemporary red boards, spine lettered in gilt, edges uncut. With dust jacket. Slight smudge to p. 8, otherwise an excellent copy in the price-clipped jacket that has toned edges.

Bright November is a poetic work by Kingsley Amis, published by Jonathan Cape in 1947. The collection showcases Amis's poetry and marks his first major publication. It is a staple for admirers of his more extensive literary contributions.