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THE HEART OF THE MATTER
by Greene, Graham
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Yarmouth, Maine, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
1948. New York: The Viking Press, 1948. Original grey and antique-rose cloth, with dust jacket.
First American Edition of Greene's first post-war novel, portraying the moral crisis of a good man "increasingly enmeshed in love, in intrigue, and in evil" (per the jacket), while serving as a wartime British colonial police officer in a West African capital. In 1942-1943 Greene himself had served in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as an MI6 intelligence officer -- under the later-to-be-notorious double agent Kim Philby. This is a fine, virtually as-new copy (bookplate on the front free endpaper); included is the dust jacket, essentially without wear or soil and still bearing the printed $3.00 price (one very faint small mark at the top of the front panel). Immensely popular upon publication, this novel was #40 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.
First American Edition of Greene's first post-war novel, portraying the moral crisis of a good man "increasingly enmeshed in love, in intrigue, and in evil" (per the jacket), while serving as a wartime British colonial police officer in a West African capital. In 1942-1943 Greene himself had served in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as an MI6 intelligence officer -- under the later-to-be-notorious double agent Kim Philby. This is a fine, virtually as-new copy (bookplate on the front free endpaper); included is the dust jacket, essentially without wear or soil and still bearing the printed $3.00 price (one very faint small mark at the top of the front panel). Immensely popular upon publication, this novel was #40 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.
Synopsis
Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter, set in an unnamed West African colony towards the end of World War II, is loosely based on the author’s own experience as a British intelligence officer in Sierra Leone. The novel’s protagonist, Henry Scobie, struggles to make his miserable wife happy. In the process, Scobie begins to wonder if any individual can truly make another happy, resulting in a life-changing moral crisis. The Heart of the Matter, an insightful exploration of pity, suffering, religion, and responsibility, quickly became extremely popular, having sold more than 300,000 copies upon publication. The novel was critically acclaimed and received many favorable reviews. In 1948, The Heart of the Matter was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and it was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black awardees in 2012. The novel is ranked 40th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and is also listed on TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Sumner & Stillman
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 14576
- Title
- THE HEART OF THE MATTER
- Author
- Greene, Graham
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Date Published
- 1948
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction (Early 20th Century);
Terms of Sale
Sumner & Stillman
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Sumner & Stillman
Biblio member since 2009
Yarmouth, Maine
About Sumner & Stillman
Founded in 1980, Sumner & Stillman is a small family business providing personal service in the buying and selling of literary first editions of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) for over 30 years.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
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