Books

First edition, first impression, of the author's wildly successful first book, handsomely bound. The work "has been described as the finest comic novel of its generation, the earliest and most influential of 'campus' or 'redbrick' novels, and a key text both of the Movement, the pre-eminent poetical grouping of the period, and of the 'angry young men'" (ODNB). Its receipt of the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award cemented Amis's literary reputation at the very outset of his writing career. The book inspired the film of 1957, remade in 2003, and the two television series of 1967 and 1982, both named the Further Adventures of Lucky Jim. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in full green morocco, lettering and decoration to spine gilt, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, burgundy endpapers, edges gilt. A fine copy. .

Kingsley Amis's first novel, 'Lucky Jim', is a comic sensation that paints a brilliant picture of academic life in post-war Britain. Following Jim Dixon, a junior lecturer, Amis illustrates a satirical journey through university pedantry and the inherent absurdities.