Look at the Harlequins – Vladimir Nabokov
VG/VG

For sale: a rare first hardcover edition, first printing of Look at the Harlequins by Vladimir Nabokov. First Edition stated, 1974 McGraw-Hill. First Printing without any subsequent printing.

The book is in Very Good condition with clean, bright boards with a strong sheen, strong title ink on a straight spine, a stain/smudge to the bottom page block, light foxing to other page blocks, tight binding, no spine tilt, rolled spine ends, mild edge wear, and rubbed corners. The interior of the book is in Near Fine  condition without marks, inscriptions, or  other signs of ownership. The end papers and the interior pages are clean and lightly toned.

The dust jacket is in Very Good condition with mild surface wear, heavy edge wear, chips and the price on the front flap. Looks great in a new  archival wrap.

‘Look at the harlequins … Play! Invent the world! Invent reality’.

This is the childhood advice given by an aunt to Russian born writer Vadim Vadimovich, who emigrates to England, then Paris, then Germany and then the US. Now dying, he reconstructs his past. He remembers Iris his first wife, Annette his long-necked typist, and Bel his daughter, as well as his own bizarre illness, ‘numerical nimbus syndrome’.