Black Mischief
Chapman & Hall, 1932.
First edition. 8vo. Original marbled cloth in pictorial dustwrapper. Retaining the green book society Book of the Month wraparound band. Frontispiece map of the "Azanian Empire". A fine copy, in a near fine dustwrapper, bright and crisp with just a little wear and darkening to the spine ends.
The author's third novel, drawing on his experiences in Africa which as he reported in his travel journal, Ninety Two Days, were "experiences vivid enough to demand translation into literary form". Given the instant success of Waugh's first two novels, the critical response was lukewarm, and the novel became better known for its attack on the Catholic journal, The Tablet, and the heated response from The Tablet's Editor, Ernest Oldmeadow, who asserted that it was "a work both disgraceful and scandalous. It abounds in coarse and sometimes disgusting passages, and its climax is disgusting." Needless to say this did nothing to harm sales.
Stock ID: 46592
£2,250.00
