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A Handful of Dust

A Handful of Dust

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A Handful of Dust

by Waugh, Evelyn

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Good+
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
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About This Item

New York, NY: Little, Brown & Co, 1934. The New Classics Series. Hardcover. Good+. Unclipped dust jacket, tan with chips on top and bottom edges and spine. Good copy in the original red cloth boards. Slight dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Previous owner's name on ffep. Pages are otherwise clean and unmarked.

Synopsis

British writer Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust tells the story of Tony Last, a disillusioned and soon-to-be-divorced country squire, who travels of the jungle of Brazil — only to find himself the prisoner of an unhinged settler who forces him to continuously read aloud the works of Charles Dickens. A Handful of Dust is often grouped with Waugh’s satirical novels prior to World War II; however, because of its serious undertones, it can also been seen as a transitional work to his more substantial postwar fiction. The novel has autobiographical elements, reflecting the author’s own failed marriage and his resulting South American journey in 1933-1934. But on a deeper note, A Handful of Dust illustrates the parallels the savage nature of London society with uncivilized barbarity of the jungle. Waugh first used Tony as the protagonist in his 1933 short story titled The Man Who Liked Dickens. The piece was published in the US in Hearst's International–Cosmopolitan and in Britain in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine. Tony’s story was then serialized — after much revision and expansion — under the title A Flat in London. When it came time to publish the story as a novel, Waugh selected the title A Handful of Dust, inspired by a line in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land: "I will show you fear in a handful of dust." Upon publication, the critical reception of A Handful of Dust was less than impressive. Yet the novel was and has remained popular with the public and has never been out of print. A Handful of Dust is ranked 34th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. It is also listed as one of TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923). 

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Details

Bookseller
Denali Bay LLC US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
1000286
Title
A Handful of Dust
Author
Waugh, Evelyn
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Good+
Quantity Available
1
Edition
The New Classics Series
Publisher
Little, Brown & Co
Place of Publication
New York, NY
Date Published
1934

Terms of Sale

Denali Bay LLC

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About the Seller

Denali Bay LLC

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2020
Silver Spring, Maryland

About Denali Bay LLC

Denali Bay specializes in delivering antique, vintage, and rare books to our customers. We offer high-quality products worthy of displaying, collecting, or just enjoying. Many are first editions and some are signed by the authors. Shop Denali Bay now for a great experience.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

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...
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....
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
FFEP
A common abbreviation for Front Free End Paper. Generally, it is the first page of a book and is part of a single sheet that...
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Good+
A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.

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