MODERNISMS

BLACKWELL’S RARE BOOKS
76. Morand (Paul) Orient Air Express. Translated by Desmond Flower. Cassell, 1932,
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, pp. 127, crown 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered
in gilt and gently faded, a few tiny spots to edges and a couple of light scuffs, good
£50
Inscribed by Desmond Flower to Peter Davies: ‘For one who holds the strings of my
destiny, PD from DF, 1932’.
A nice association copy from Flower, whose role as translator links him to the text,
and whose profession as a publisher links him to the recipient.
Presentation copy to Giacomo Antonini
77. Quasimodo (Salvatore) Oboe Sommerso. Genoa: Edizioni di Circoli, 1932, FIRST
EDITION, 221/500 COPIES, pp. 121, [4], crown 8vo, original wrappers with integral
green dustjacket printed in blue, some gentle fading and two small marks, very
shallow chipping to ends of backstrip panel, very good £500
Inscribed by the author to the half-title, at time of publication: ‘A Giacomo Antonini,
Cordiale omaggio, Quasimodo’ - the recipient was one of the most eminent Italian
literary critics of his era, whose reputation soured at the disclosure of his role as
an informer to the fascist government. He has been regarded as a model for the
‘conformista’ of his one-time friend Alberto Moravia.
Quasimodo himself was unambiguously anti-fascist, though not active in the
Resistance movement and so not likely to have been implicated in Antonini’s reports
to the OVRA (Opera Volontaria di Repressione Antifascista) he was nevertheless
moving in the same circles as those that were directly affected by Antonini’s act of
betrayal - the inscription here predates this episode and speaks of a more innocent
time. The work itself is one of the principal works of Hermeticism, published by the
magazine ‘Circoli’ to which Quasimodo was a key contributor. The author won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
78. [Rodker (John)] Memoirs of Other
Fronts. Putnam, 1932, FIRST EDITION,
pencil note identifying author to titlepage,
a few spots to prelims and the odd
tiny faint spot to borders further in, pp.
262, original oatmeal cloth, backstrip
lettered in black, gentle knock to top
edge of upper board, top edge of
textblock a trifle dusty, ownership
inscription to flyleaf, Paul Nash
dustjacket with backstrip panel a little
browned, a sliver clipped from head of
front flap, some internal tape repair
along head and tail, very good £2,000
A rather scarce work by an important
modernist figure - a printer and publisher,
as well as author and translator - this
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