INSCRIBED TO BRIAN ALDISS
A Good Man in Africa
Hamish Hamilton, 1981.
First edition. Author's presentation copy, inscribed on publication to fellow novelist, Brian Aldiss and his wife, "For Brian + Margaret with all good wishes from your new neighbor William Boyd 6. Nov.1981" Loosely laid in is a page of pencilled notes on yellow paper, made by Aldiss as he read the book, mainly mildly critical with the odd word of praise: "92 Stupid Welsh gits out of K[ingsley] A[mis]... 110 Morgan blushed. Surely not? 134 Morgan a Tom Sharpe Hero... 156 the affair with Celia: good. Improvement on Ch.I". Dustwrapper illustration by Michael MacManus. A fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper, with slightly faded spine.
The author's first novel and winner of the Whitbread Award, on publication it was likened to a cross between Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis: "it is as though Lucky Jim had been suddenly transported to the mythical kingdom of Azania in Black Mischief." (New York Times)
Boyd moved to Oxford to embark on a DPhil thesis on Shelley and to lecture in English in 1980. In 1981 he moved next door to Aldiss and, "sharing a relish for literary life and white wine, we immediately became friends" - Aldiss (The Twinkling of an Eye).
Stock ID: 40334
£1,250.00
