A sports journalist, sent to a Midlands town on a weekly assignment, finds himself confronted by ghosts from the past when he disembarks at the railway station. Memories of one of his best, most trusted friends, a tragically young victim of cancer, begin to flood through his mind as he attempts to go about the routine business of reporting a football match. B S Johnson's famous 'book in a box', in which the chapters are presented unbound, to be read in any order the reader chooses, is one of the key works of a novelist now ... Read More
A sports journalist, sent to a Midlands town on a weekly assignment, finds himself confronted by ghosts from the past when he disembarks at the railway station. Memories of one of his best, most trusted friends, a tragically young victim of cancer, begin to flood through his mind as he attempts to go about the routine business of reporting a football match. B S Johnson's famous 'book in a box', in which the chapters are presented unbound, to be read in any order the reader chooses, is one of the key works of a novelist now undergoing an enormous revival of interest. The Unfortunates is a book of passionate honesty and dark, courageous humour: a meditation on death and a celebration of friendship which also offers a remarkably frank self-portrait of its author. Read Less
Add this copy of The Unfortunates to cart. $952.76, very good condition, Sold by Rooke Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BATH, SOMERSET, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1969 by Panther Books LTD; Secker & Warburg LTD.
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Seller's Description:
None. Very Good. The first edition of this fascinating unique experimental novel by B. S. Johnson, issued in twenty-seven sections compiled here in a random order. The first edition of this work. Signed by the author to the front paste down of the presentation box, "For Carmen, with love + respect + thanks for the...done on this book "baby" novel. Bryan, 1/1/69". In the original presentation box, with the original wraparound. Wraparound is in a very good condition, box in a good condition. A unique experimental 'book in a box' generally considered to be a lost masterpiece of the 1960s. The novel is issued in twenty-seven sections, separately bound and temporarily held together by a removable wraparound, which has been separated in this copy. Apart from the first and last sections, which are marked, the other twenty-five sections are intended to be read in a completely random order. All twenty-seven sections are present here. By B. S. Johnson. From the library of Carmen Callil, an Australian publisher who founded Virago Press in 1973, to "publish books which celebrated women and women's lives, and which would, by so doing, spread the message of women's liberation to the whole population". Virago publish works by new and neglected female authors, publishing the works by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter, all with a distinctive green spine synonymous with Virago. In the original publisher's box, with the original wraparound. Externally, generally smart, with a dampstain. Rubbing to the extremities. Internally, unbound in twenty-seven sections, as issued. Pages are bright and clean. Wraparound is in a very good condition. Slipcase is in a good condition. Very Good.
