Description
For sale: a rare and exceptional, first edition, second printing hardcover copy of Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan. First Edition described, February 23, 1959 Alfred Knopf. Second Printing March 1959 stated on the copyright page.
The book exterior is in Very Good condition with clean, bright boards with a strong sheen and strong cloth pattern. The title ink is strong on a convex spine and the front cover, a few marks on the page blocks, tight binding, no spine tilt, lightly rolled spine ends, mild edge wear, and rubbed corners. The interior of the book is also in Very Good condition with the previous owner’s name on the first free end paper. No other marks, inscriptions, or other signs of ownership. The end papers have moderate to heavy gutter stains and the interior pages are clean and lightly toned, making this an excellent addition to any collection.
The dust jacket is in Good condition with moderate surface wear, heavy edge wear, chips and a triangular gap on the front. Second issue jacket, with $4.50 on front flap, and with the Book Club Edition stated. Looks great in a new Brodart archival wrap.
A teenage volunteer in the IRA, a fanatical believer, Brendan Behan was arrested with explosives at the age of 17 and spent three years locked in a British juvenile borstal. There he begins to wonder, who’s really the enemy? Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a window into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland’s past. It is also a record of a change of heart. Inside the borstal (reform school), Behan meets British Protestants who are there for reasons of their own. He begins to see that class creates more common ground than he ever believed while religion and nationality are much more superficial divisions between people than he’d ever been taught.
Ships promptly in a corrugated mailer with the book wrapped in both craft paper and multiple layers of bubble wrap.
