The Watch

E-141: Farrar, Straus & Young. Very Good in Good+ dust jacket. 1951. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. Farrar, Straus & Young. 1951. 212 pgs. First Edition/First Printing (assumed; FSY colophon present). Daniel Bell's copy. DJ has shelf-wear present (chipped and worn with a large chip present to the crown of the spine). Bound in half cloth boards. Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities. Daniel Bell's name present to the reverse of the front board and to the FFEP. Text is clean and free of marks. Daniel or Elaine Bell's notes present to the reverse of the rear endpaper. Binding tight and solid. The Watch, first published in 1950, is a portrait of Rome and Italy in the dopoguerra - the period after the war - when the heroism and sacrifice of the partisan war against the Germans ran head-on into a rockwall of conservative reaction. The year is 1948, the main character works for a newspaper in Rome, his friends and family and partisan comrades are all trying to get by and make do. The watch of the title was given to the hero by his father; it's broken, he thinks of fixing it, then wonders if it would be cheaper to buy a new, modern watch. Around him people are forever talking, looking for jobs, wasting time in cafes, grumbling about big business, the church, conservative politicians. The hero is summoned to Naples to visit the sickbed of a favorite uncle. The trip south is dangerous and difficult, along ruined roads through country infested by bandits. The passengers are crowded, they complain and tell stories, all have suffered, none has given up hope. The Watch is a brilliant and unusual tale of life and its torments, and it ends on a note as sweet as it is bitter. E-141; 8.2 X 5.7 X 1.5 inches; 442 pages .