FOWLES, John — Collector, the
London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. He Collected Butterflies-Then He Collected Her" Fowles's Chilling Debut in a Superb Jacketed First FOWLES, John. The Collector. London: Jonathan Cape, [1963]. First edition of Fowles first book - a landmark in modern psychological fiction. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 191 x 127 mm.). [1-8], 9-282, [283], [1, blank] pp. Publisher's brick red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge stained red. Original color pictorial dust jacket designed by Tom Adams. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket, with only minimal rubbing to extremities. A Modern Psychological Classic: The debut novel of John Fowles, The Collector was an immediate literary sensation - its unsettling premise and dual narrative structure marking a decisive shift toward darker psychological fiction in post-war British literature. The story of a socially isolated clerk who abducts a young woman he "collects" like a specimen remains as disturbing and influential, as when first published. The first edition dust jacket, designed by Tom Adams, is now inseparable from the book's identity: it shows stark, psychologically charged imagery. .