.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
A Willing Exile: A Novel. London: F.V. White & Co.,1890
Details
RAFFALOVICH, Marc André (1864-1934)
A Willing Exile: A Novel. London: F.V. White & Co.,1890
Exceedingly rare first edition of Raffalovich’s first novel: a superb copy in the publisher’s cloth. A Willing Exile is ‘a satire on the superficial nature of fashionable society [which] charts the moral deterioration of the egocentric and obnoxious Wildean character, Cyprian Brome’ (Kingston). The author’s relationship with Wilde was complicated and ultimately very critical, most notably in his 1895 essay ‘L'Affaire Oscar Wilde,’ a vituperative commentary on Wilde as a corruptor of youth. Kingston, Oscar Wilde as a Character in Victorian fiction (2007). Wolff 5686.
2 volumes, octavo (180 x 124mm). Half-titles, 16pp. publisher's catalogue at end of vol.II (minor staining to endpapers and preliminaries in vol. II). Original olive cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front boards ruled in blind, lower boards with publisher’s blind monogram (faint wear at extremities and small scuff to lower board of vol. II). Provenance: Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
A Willing Exile: A Novel. London: F.V. White & Co.,1890
Exceedingly rare first edition of Raffalovich’s first novel: a superb copy in the publisher’s cloth. A Willing Exile is ‘a satire on the superficial nature of fashionable society [which] charts the moral deterioration of the egocentric and obnoxious Wildean character, Cyprian Brome’ (Kingston). The author’s relationship with Wilde was complicated and ultimately very critical, most notably in his 1895 essay ‘L'Affaire Oscar Wilde,’ a vituperative commentary on Wilde as a corruptor of youth. Kingston, Oscar Wilde as a Character in Victorian fiction (2007). Wolff 5686.
2 volumes, octavo (180 x 124mm). Half-titles, 16pp. publisher's catalogue at end of vol.II (minor staining to endpapers and preliminaries in vol. II). Original olive cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front boards ruled in blind, lower boards with publisher’s blind monogram (faint wear at extremities and small scuff to lower board of vol. II). Provenance: Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
