- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: booksonlinebrighton, Brighton, United Kingdombooksonlinebrighton
AbeBooks seller since March 7, 2000
Condition: Used - Near fine
£ 25.00
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Green Boards with silver blocked titles to spine, 220 x 140 mm approx. 304 pp. First Edition 1997. A provocative novel exploring the ethical questions posed by eugenics.Please see our images of the actual book offered for sale for further details and condition. Near Fine/ Near Fine (Book - no notable shelf wear or soiling, no previous owner name or insc. Dust Jacket- mild general shelf rubbing, hint of fading to spine,non price clipped - cover £15.99. No notable defects to book or jacket).
Seller Inventory # 136744
- Title
- MENDEL'S DWARF
- Author
- SIMON MAWER
- Publisher
- DOUBLEDAY, LONDON
- Publication year
- 1997
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Dust jacket
- Near Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0385408978
- ISBN 13
- 9780385408974
- Illustrator
- BEN NETT ( Cover Design)
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Printing
- 1st Printing
- Seller catalogs
- Fiction, Modern First Editions, Science and Engineering
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
A distant relative of the first geneticist, pea-pollinating Gregor Mendel, Ben has long used libraries as a refuge and education as a way out (if not up). Still in his 20s, he's determined to identify the gene that made him "one of nature's practical jokes". Offered a post at the Royal Institute for Genetics, he immediately puts achondroplasia on the agenda. The director may well consider research into dwarfdom commercially unviable, but Ben knows better. His height will finally be of help: "There are lots of organizations interested," he insists. "The Little People of America, groups like that. When they see me coming they reach for their covenant forms."
Mawer intersperses Ben's research with the story of his affair (a "menage à une et demi") with the Institute's ill-fated assistant librarian, Jeane Piercey: "Mousy, of course. I feel that all librarians ought to be mousy. It should be a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for the job. Mousy? Agouti? What, I wonder, is its genetic control? Perhaps it is tightly linked to the gene for tidiness." Mawer also juxtaposes Ben's passion with that of his legume-obsessed ancestor. Mendel, it turns out, pined for Frau Rotway, a married woman in the inevitable company of her own achondroplastic, a dachshund.
Mendel's Dwarf wears its considerable learning lightly (the author is a biologist) and readers will be alternately moved, charmed and shocked by Ben's "astringent kiss of irony". Because the hero makes several difficult choices in the course of this fine novel, we admire his bravery, along with his resilience, at every turn. For Ben, the smallest gesture can become the largest: for him, nods become "big absurd things, my head being about the same size as my body. You can't miss them. They are the gestural equivalent of screaming." And alas, such acts are often poignantly beyond Ben's grasp: "I wanted to put my arm around her, of course, to bring her that fragile thing that we call comfort. But of course I couldn't reach."
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
booksonlinebrighton
Brighton, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since March 7, 2000
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 10 business days | 35 to 60 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 22.00 | £ 24.00 |
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Store description
booksonlinebrighton has an eclectic mix of interesting collectable secondhand and antiquarian books and takes pride in seeking to describe them accurately. In most instances images of the actual item are provided alongside the listing to enable an informed purchase decision to be made. Bookbinding is also carried out by me. Any restoration/repairs of any substance carried out by me to a book offered for sale is mentioned in the description. I am always keen to buy any book binding materials, tools and equipment and inquiries in respect thereof or for any such items I may have surplus to my present requirements are always welcome. …
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booksonlinebrighton
United Kingdom
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