The Brightfount Diaries

London: Faber and Faber, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine-. First Impression of the author's first book (first published mcmlv on copyright page). 8vo: 200pp. Publisher's French blue cloth, spine lettered in yellow, salmon-pink dust jacket illustrated by Pearl Falconer, who also contributed full-page line drawings throughout. Fine, square, and tight (apparently unread). Currey, p. 1. After the Second World War, Aldiss worked as a bookseller in Oxford, from which experience came this novel in diary form about the life of a bookshop assistant, which originally ran serially for two years in The Bookseller (Musings about publishers, authors, booksellers and buyers), under the pseudonym Peter Pica. ) According to Aldiss, the novel "did not entirely hatch, the parts being better than the whole," although it did serve to alert the reading public that a new novelist worth noting was afoot. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).