Allegro Postillions.

London, UK Black Swan, 1985. Paperback First Edition Thus (1985). First published in 1983 by Salamander Press. First Edition Thus (1985). Very Good+ to Near Fine in Wraps: shows the mildest rubbing to wrapper covers; a small scar at the middle of the front panel, where a sticker has been removed; two pages creased right at the upper tip; else flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a couple of minor, imperfections, one of them quite noticeable. Bright and Clean. Corners Sharp. Close to "As New". NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (7.75 x 5 x 0.3 inches),. 123 pages. Language: English. Weight: 4.5 ounces. First published in 1983 by Salamander Press. Trade Paperback. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial and the Hawtdhornden Prizes. This short collection of four short stories is connected by a theme of human littleness, provincialness, and self-deception. Music, art, and Italy are perhaps more basic links between the tales. Each of the stories features flawed human beings. The stories explore the relationships between people, exposing self-centered fantasies and delusions while at the same time showing the beauty of the human capacity to idealize and dream. The human pursuit of celebrity and celebrity-worship and the distance between celebrity and artistry are other themes that occur throughout the volume as well. Keates has mastered both the first-person and third-person narrative style. The stories also feature several homosexual characters and explores the problems of love both heterosexual and homosexual.