The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris, Goodbye to Berlin
by Christopher Isherwood
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: New Directions, 1945. First American Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Octavo. The first appearance in America of Isherwood's famed Berlin stories which formed the basis for the epic musical CABARET. Single date and no additional printings, with z$3.50 on flap. Book is fine and unmarked. Jacket has two small (1/"") corner chips and one 1/4"" chip at the bottom front edge, protected by the archival Mylar cover, and is otherwise very good, clean and bright. Scarce in the dust jacket.
Synopsis
The Berlin Stories , by Christopher Isherwood, consists of two short novels, Mr. Norris Changes Trains (published in the United States as The Last of Mr. Norris ) and Goodbye to Berlin . The stories are both set in 1931 Berlin, as Hitler and the Nazis are coming into power. Isherwood portrays Berlin's seedier side with characters who frequent beer halls, vaudeville theaters and bath houses. Goodbye to Berlin includes the character Sally Bowles, best known from the musical and film Cabaret , the inspiration for which is rooted in Isherwood's Berlin Stories and other works of his. The main character in Mr Norris Changes Trains is gay, and the book was written during a time when being gay was a crime in many parts of Europe. Christopher Isherwood was himself openly homosexual, and he explored gay culture in his writing. He was forced to write in such a way that references to gay culture and homosexual relationships were so subtle that one had to be familiar with the dialogue of that culture in order to understand them. -
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Details
- Bookseller
- Alba's Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- BN027750
- Title
- The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris, Goodbye to Berlin
- Author
- Christopher Isherwood
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First American Edition
- Publisher
- New Directions
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1945
- Size
- Octavo
Terms of Sale
Alba's Books
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About the Seller
Alba's Books
Biblio member since 2020
Chicago, Illinois
About Alba's Books
In the mid '90s, Alba started getting calls from people who had a pronunciation problem. /
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/ And so another bookseller gets her wings. / The logo's a skyline bookshelf 'cause she's so the big city girl.
"Is this...Biblio...um...Biblio...die...sigh...uh?"
/ She enjoyed hearing the attempts. Her father's book business, Bibliodisia, was actually pronounced Biblio-DEE-zhee-uh. "It's a whole books and sex thing," she'd explain. "No, no, not books ABOUT sex. Books so awesome you want them like sex. Biblio plus aphrodisia equals Bibliodisia -- get it?" / Some did, some didn't.
/ Either way, her dad built a musty little empire with a sexy, funny, brilliant, and hard-to-pronounce name that boasted membership in the Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association (MWABA) and exhibited at Chicago book fairs such as the famed Printer's Row. / The way he puts it:
"OUR STOCK IS VARIED AND OF HIGH QUALITY, COMPRISED MAINLY OF HARDCOVER FIRST EDITIONS IN THE BEST AVAILABLE CONDITION FOR THEIR AGE. OUR PRICES VARY AND ARE CONSISTENTLY LOWER THAN WHAT YOU SEE ELSEWHERE, AND WE ARE HAPPY TO CONSIDER REASONABLE OFFERS FOR OUR HIGHER-PRICED BOOKS." (He's hard-of-hearing. Also, Cuban. Alba is Cuban too so she can make that joke.)
/ When he says "our" he means himself, his wife, and his two daughters. It has grown more and more into a family business every year, and now he's nearly ready to hand the reins over to one of his daughters. (Don't worry, the other one's a school teacher.) On Biblio, Alba manages Bibliodisia's inventory and sales under the considerably less sexy, funny, brilliant and hard-to-pronounce business name of Alba's Books.
/ And so another bookseller gets her wings. / The logo's a skyline bookshelf 'cause she's so the big city girl.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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