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DARKNESS AT NOON
by Arthur Koestler
- Used
- very good
- Signed
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good -
- Seller
-
Chamblee, Georgia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
US: The Franklin Library, 1979. Limited Edition. Hardback. Very Good/Very Good -. Limited edition signed by the author. Beautiful leatherbound copy from The Franklin Library. Text is tight and clean; no markings from previous owners; full leather over moire silk endpapers. Two raised bands to spine with gilt-debossed particulars to spine and boards. Front board is lightly scuffed; corners are bumped. Light rubbing to tail of spine. Binding is tight and square. All edges gilt with light shelf wear. Signature protected by publisher's tissue paper guard. Rust-orange silk bookmarker attached and intact.
Synopsis
Darkness at Noon, by Hungarian-born British writer Arthur Koestler, is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the government that he had helped to create. The novel is understood as an allegory to the USSR in 1938, the Great Purge, and the Moscow Trials. However, the text never mentions the Soviet Union or Russia (just “Country of the Revolution” and “Over There”) or Joseph Stalin (only “Number One,” a menacing dictator). Perhaps the lack of specific references is Koestler’s way of making the story seem more universal, but it’s clear he has in mind actual places, people, and events. Koestler was actually a proponent of Marxism-Leninism until Stalin’s 1938 Purge and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact. Afterwards, he edited an anti-Hitler, anti-Stalin newspaper. Koestler wrote the novel in German while living in Paris, from where he escaped in 1940 just before the Nazi troops arrived. Darkness at Noon owes its publication to the decision of sculptor Daphne Hardy, Koestler’s lover in Paris, to translate the text into English before she herself escaped. Koestler wrote Darkness at Noon as the second part of a trilogy; the first volume is The Gladiators (1939), first published in Hungarian. It is a novel about the subversion of the Spartacus revolt. The third novel is Arrival and Departure (1943), about a refugee during World War II. By then living in London, Koestler wrote the third in English. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Darkness at Noon number eight on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Sidney Kingsley adapted it for Broadway in 1951.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Atlanta Vintage Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 64025
- Title
- DARKNESS AT NOON
- Author
- Arthur Koestler
- Format/Binding
- Hardback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good -
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Limited Edition
- Publisher
- The Franklin Library
- Place of Publication
- US
- Date Published
- 1979
- Keywords
- Franklin Library
Terms of Sale
Atlanta Vintage Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Atlanta Vintage Books
Biblio member since 2007
Chamblee, Georgia
About Atlanta Vintage Books
Welcome to Atlanta Vintage Books, serving book lovers locally and worldwide for over 30 years. Our 5,000 square foot book store houses over 70,000 vintage, rare and out of print books. You'll be greeted with a smile when you enter but left alone as you browse. Our staff is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Special orders are happily accommodated, as hard-to-find and out-of-print editions are a specialty. Our store is light and airy with plate glass windows letting in plenty of natural light and wonderfully decorated with antique display cases, old barrister bookcases, and wood book shelves. The wide aisles and scattered seating make browsing a joy. You'll wonder where the time went.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Raised Band(s)
- Raised bands refer to the ridges that protrude slightly from the spine on leather bound books. The bands are created in the...
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
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