Laughter In The Dark

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1938. First edition. Hardcover. Fine / Fine. Bound in original green cloth with a complete and fine example of the dust jacket. The book was issued in three variant bindings and the consensus now is that the green binding takes precedence, followed by orange, and brown. The author's name is spelled Nabokoff with this title but as that is not commonly known I listed this title with the more conventional Western spelling. The first Engish translation from 1936 was titled Camera Obscura with a translation by Winifred Roy. Nabokov was so disturbed by this effort that he decided to do his own translation, and thank goodness for that. Nabokov famously disliked pictoral depictions on dust jackets and was able with only a few exceptions to have his way with text only examples. Though this might seem limiting, the brilliant production of this novel dispels any argument to the contrary. It is possible to have text only and to present it in a very compelling fashion. One of my favorite dust jackets of all time. This is a superb copy of a brilliant novel. Now housed in a strong and attractive custom built drop-back box. A14.2.

Price: $3,850.00


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