The Equilibriad [Signed]

London: Hogarth Press, 1948. Hardcover. Fine. Signed limited edition of Sansom's early novella about a man who wakes one morning to discover himself physically and psychologically aslant, illustrated with five superb full-page plates after drawings by Lucian Freud. Number 479 of 750 copies signed by Sansom on limitation page. 8vo: 45,[1]pp. Publisher's buckram-backed marbled boards, spine lettered in gold, beveled edges, fore-edge uncut, title page printed in black and red. Ownership signature to front free end papers of New York figurative painter Sigmund Abeles, whose paintings are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and the Whitney, among many other institutions. Initials "A. B." inked to rear paste-down. Without the scarce original glassine dust jacket. Embrowning to end papers, spine tips very lightly rubbed, else Fine. The great figurative artist Lucian Freud made numerous drawings throughout his twenties, before switching predominantly to oil painting. The originals of several of the pencil and conté crayon drawings done for this work were shown for the first time the year after Freud's death, in 2011, at a retrospective of his works on paper at Acquavella Galleries in New York. One is a youthful self-portrait that appears here as a stand-in for Sansom's protagonist. "William Sansom was once described as London's closest equivalent to Franz Kafka. He wrote in hallucinatory detail, bringing every image into pin-sharp focus. . . . He fell from favour, but now there is a movement to rediscover his finest works." (The Independent) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).