BLUEBEARD'S EGG and other stories (First UK edition - first impression)

Margaret Atwood

ISBN 10: 0224022458 / ISBN 13: 9780224022453

Published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty-two Bedford Square, London, 1987

About this Item

First printing of the first UK edition. The author's third published book of short stories. ***Near fine in blue cloth-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine. Boards clean and unmarked. Tail of spine just slightly creased. Corners sharp. Page block edges clean but tanned as usual. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean but heavily tanned as usual (cheap paper stock used). No foxing. No creases or tears. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper, that has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of £10.95 net. The dustwrapper is complete, with no chips, tears or creases. No fading. Dustwrapper bright. ***281 pages. 224mm x 145mm. ***'***'By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, "Bluebeard's Egg" glows with childhood memories, the reality of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mundane lives, and unexpected loves. But here too is the inner world of hidden places and all that emerges from them - the intimately personal, the fantastic, the shockingly real. Whether it's what lives in a mysterious locked room or the secret feelings we all conceal.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***'"Bluebeard's Egg" is a collection of short stories by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, first published in 1983. The book's first American edition was released in 1986 under the name "Bluebeard's Egg and other stories". In this collection, Atwood explores the politics of sex and heterosexual relationships, examining the emotions, betrayals, and casualties of such relationships. Four of the stories in the collection depart from this theme to instead present presumably autobiographic ruminations on the narrator's childhood influences. The majority of these stories are set in downtown Toronto.' (Wiki) ***First printing of the first UK edition, in its original dustwrapper, in near fine, bright condition. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

Seller Inventory # 5112r

Bibliographic Details

• Title: BLUEBEARD'S EGG and other stories (First UK edition - first impression)
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Thirty-two Bedford Square, London
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224022458
• ISBN 13: 9780224022453
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Diana Overton (Jacket design)
• Edition: First UK Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature
  • First Editions

About this title

Synopsis

A collection of stories on the relationships between men and women.

Review

"A book to be read and re-read, to be talked about and savored." -"London Free Press" "Margaret Atwood renders visual, aural, and tactile events in such crisp, surprising language that her images crackle off the page." -"Washington Post" "The depth and complexity of Atwood's critique of contemporary society are stunning." -"Ms." "Her stories are sophisticated, reticent, ornate, stark, supple, stiff, savage or forgiving; they are exactly what she wants them to be. They are stories from the prime of life." -"Times Literary Supplement" "An outstanding correspondent on the war between the sexes writes as wittily as ever on the hopes and shortcomings of women who bake for poets, sleep with their accountants, attribute their preference for awful men to fearlessness, and don't know how much they scare their own mothers." -"The Observer" (U.K.) "Atwood displays polished craftsmanship and rare insight in the stories in this collection. They are the work of an author in full control of her considerable talents." -"Globe and Mail" "This collection of short stories shows her genius with all its sparkle and humour." -"Cosmopolitan" "Atwood is nothing if not clairvoyant." -Kingston "Whig-Standard" "Once again Atwood brings her poetic talents, her acute clarity of perception, and her sardonic humour to an examination of the foibles and follies of modern life." -David Staines, "Canadian Literature" "In this impressive collection of astute and reverberating stories, she adds to her already considerable stature as a writer." -"Winnipeg Free Press" "Atwood's prose in "Bluebeard's Egg" is powerful, elegant, and mellifluous to an extraordinary degree." -"Quill & Quire" "An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women." -"The Times" (U.K.) "From the Hardcover edition."ompelling tale of adolescence. . . . Ki