Mervyn Peake; Maeve Gilmore [Intro.] — Boy in Darkness

Exeter, Wheaton & Co. 1976 . First edition. Cloth. The scarce first separate edition of Peake's haunting Gormenghast novella, introduced by Maeve Gilmore and illustrated with Peake's characteristic artwork. In the publisher"s original pictorial wove card wrappers.  The first separate edition.  The novella was first published in 1956 as Peake's contribution to Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination, alongside stories by William Golding and John Wyndham. It subsequently appeared in the 1969 Allison & Busby anthology The Inner Landscape before being issued here by Wheaton in 1976, its first publication as a separate volume. With five pages of illustrations by Peake, preceeding the text. Collated, complete.  Although Titus Groan is not named in the text used for this edition, the boy at its centre is Titus, escaping from the oppressive rituals of Gormenghast before encountering an increasingly sinister world beyond the castle. In the publisher"s original pictorial wove card wrappers. Externally, very smart. Very minor shelf wear to extremities. Paper and glue residue to verso of front cover, where a previous bookplate has been removed. Light creasing to lower corners of wraps. Spine and perimeters faded, more apparent to rear. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright and clean with one or two spots. Very small mark to p. 47, affecting one or two letters. Ink stamp of the Durham County Education Committee, Sherburn Secondary School, to the upper corner of p. 27, with slight offsetting to the facing page, not affecting the text. This is the only institutional stamp present. Very Good . Ill.: Mervyn Peake. Very Good .