Books

1962. London: Michael Joseph. 1962. 8vo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt; original iconic yellow dust wrapper designed by William Belcher with author's photograph to lower cover; pp.568; endpapers lightly offset, spine ends a tad compressed, with light scratching to upper edge; else a near-fine copy in the very good dust jacket, which has a couple of small stains, creasing and nicking/chipping to spine tips; small abrasion to front flap fold, and a couple of small biro marks to the spine. First edition of the Nobel Prize winner's masterpiece, a profound exploration of mental and societal breakdown. The Golden Notebook contains powerful anti-war and anti-Stalinist messages, an extended analysis of communism, and a famed examination of the budding sexual and women's liberation movements. As Anthony Burgess writes in Ninety-nine Novels, "The Golden Notebook has, with all its faults, significance as the most massive statement made, up to that time, on the position of…

Published in 1962, 'The Golden Notebook' is considered to be Doris Lessing's masterpiece, exploring themes of mental and societal breakdown.