Books

Chicago: Argus Books, 1929. First illustrated edition. Hardcover. Three quarter red morocco and red cloth. Teg. Near fine. 2 vols. Austen, John. 288, 300 pages. 24 x 16 cm. Limited edition, one of 40 copies (this copy out of series) signed by Austen and Douglas with an original ink drawing, "A Clubland Habitué," signed by John Austen. Illustrated by Austen, 15 plates of which 5 are colored. Nepenthe, the Italian island is the fictional setting of South Wind, or Capri in light disguise. Norman was perhaps more well known for his scatological limericks rather than his Mediterranean travel works. One commentator noted, that in his day Douglas was regarded as one of the smartest things going. Part of that smartness was his keeping, for the whole of his long depraved life, one jump ahead of the law. Bright, sharp set, raised bands, spine panels lettered and decorated in gilt, marbled endapers.

South Wind, published in 1917, is a famed satirical novel by Norman Douglas that examines the societal norms of a small fictitious island off Italy's coast.