Coetzee, J. M. ~ Summertime : Signed By The Author

First UK Printing : Harvill Secker, London : 2009

The First UK Printing Published by Harvill Secker, London in 2009. 8vo., pale brown boards lettered in gilt to spine; navy blue endpapers; in the original unclipped photographic wrapper (£17.99) with a black and white photograph of the author to the lower flap; The BOOK is fine; THE WRAPPER fine, with a 2009 'Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize' sticker to the front panel. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. This copy signed (without dedication) by the author to the title page. A copy of the ticket for the signing event is loosely laid in for provenance. The third and final instalment in the 'Scenes from Provincial Life' series, a trilogy of fictionalised memoirs by the South African writer J. M. Coetzee. Preceded by 'Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life' (1997), and 'Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life II' (2002), the books detail the author's life growing up in Worcester, the struggles he faced in his early twenties in London after fleeing political unrest in Cape Town, and this, the final work, set after the author's death. Written from the perspective of an biographer attempting to gain insight into the mind of the late writer, the story is told through five characters who knew him intimately - the married woman with whom he had an affair, a Brazilian dancer whose daughter had English lessons with him, and other friends and colleagues including among them the author's own father. The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in the year of publication - the author had previously already won the prestigious award twice. "An elegant request" one Guardian article wrote, upon publication, "that the sum of Coetzee's existence as a public figure should be looked for only in his writing". A wonderful example.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Fine
JACKET: Fine