Miss Zilphia Gant

Dallas: Book Club of Texas, 1932. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-. First and only printing in English (although the text later appeared in Uncollected Short Stories of William Faulkner, in 1979), no. 189 of 300 numbered copies. Preface by Henry Nash Smith. 8vo: xii,29,[2]pp. Publisher's reddish-brown V-cloth, spine and upper cover ruled and lettered in gold, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed, title page printed in brown and black. Very light wear to spine tips, else clean, tight, bright and unmarked; about Fine (and apparently unread), without the original unprinted glassine dust jacket. Petersen A12.1. Man Working 621. Probably written in 1929, three years before publication in this special edition of only three hundred copies. The short story centers on development of the title character, whose mother raises her as a virtual prisoner. "Though it is crude in its handling of sexual imagery and suffers from a number of other technical problems that betray it as an early story, it does create two vivid characters. And of more importance, it reveals the author grappling with a theme that will be developed fully in some of his greatest stories and novels: the warping, destructive impact upon the psyche of the repression of those drives that connect the human being to the world of nature." (Volpe, A Reader's Guide to William Faulkner: The Short Stories) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).