Iris Murdoch — The Black Prince

New York, The Viking Press, 1973. First edition. Cloth. The first U.S edition of this novel by Irish author, Iris Murdoch. This is Murdoch's fifteenth novel, which eventually was released as a stage play. The first U.S edition. Narratively, the work consists of a central story book-ended by forewords and post-scripts written by featured characters. It is a story about love, in the context of romantic love, an artist's inspiration, a love song to Shakespeare and much more. The main characters are Bradley Pearson, an elderly writer and his best friend, Arnold Baddin, a younger man. The work explores their complex relationship riddled with jealousy, fear, love, hate and misunderstanding. Iris Murdoch was a British novelist and philosopher, born in Ireland. Primarily her novels focus on themes of morality, spirituality and sexuality. A prominent philosopher, she is now increasingly accredited for her work in the field of philosophy, most notably her work on the reinterpretation of Aristotle and Plato, as well as her discussions of moral philosophy. In her lifetime Murdoch wrote 26 novels, as well of a series of short stories and several philosophical papers. In the original quarter cloth binding and held in original unclipped dustwrapper. Externally, excellent with minor shelfwear to the head and tail of spine as well as to the extremities. Slight fading to board edges. A few light spots to the spine. Dustwrapper is very smart with minor bumping to the head of wraps. Slight sunning to the wrap edges. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean. Near Fine . Ill.: None. Near Fine/Near Fine.