The Soft Voice of the Serpent [Signed]

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine-. An exceptional signed First Printing of the Nobel laureate's first book published outside of her native South Africa. Crown 8vo (205 x 131mm): [6],244,[2]pp. Publisher's greyish-brown finely woven cloth, upper cover stamped in gold, spine lettered in gold within pink title block with gold serpent device; top edge stained pink, fore-edge uncut; illustrated cream dust jacket printed in black and priced $3.50. Signed by Gordimer on title page. Laid in is a publisher's response card. Fine, barely worn copy, square and tightly bound (apparently unread) and clean throughout; lightly dust-soiled jacket, about Fine. Driver A2. Gordimer's enduring reputation rests on the sequence of novels that form her response to apartheid, from The Lying Days (1953) through to A Sport of Nature (1987). But her early fame, in the 1950s and 1960s, came as a writer of finely turned short stories, beginning with her first collection, Face to Face, published in 1949, the year after the first Nationalist Government—the party of apartheid—was elected, and then this, her second collection, mostly a re-release of the smaller, earlier collection. It contains 21 stories, all quite short. 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.).