NIGHTS AS DAY, DAYS AS NIGHT: THE ERIDANOS LIBRARY EDITION

Hygiene, Colorado: Eridanos Library Press, 1987. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. Hygiene, Colorado: Eridanos Library Press, 1987. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 1970 pages. Diary/Record of the author's dreams, reflections, and remembrances. One of the greatest literary texts of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are several. Published in a small and limited first print run by a small fine press, the Eridanos Library, as Volume Five of its literary selections, as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Eridanos Press: Regular-sized volume format. Gray silk cloth boards with metallic-silver titles on spine, as issued. Text by Michel Leiris. Contributions by Maurice Blanchot and Roger Shattuck, indispensable Essays that appear together in this edition for the very first time. Printed on archival, thick uncoated stock paper in Italy to the highest standards. The quality of the paper used is designed to last at least 1000 years if the book is handled, read, and used properly. In pictorial DJ with reproduction of "Michel Leiris", the great painting-portrait by Francis Bacon, on the cover, and titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Michel Leiris' "Nuits sans nuit et quelques Jours sans jour" in the highly acclaimed and definitive translation by Richard Sieburth. His Diary, recorded over four decades, of ostensibly his dreams. Which, as documented, come across as, and amount to, acute commentary on his eventful, waking life. Hence the title. As such, it is a necessary companion volume to his ground-breaking "Manhood" (1964), one of the greatest books of the 20th century, preceding, anticipating, and in many ways, surpassing the memoirs that followed in our time. The decisive influence of Michel Leiris on Nobel Laureate/Memoirist Par Excellence Annie Ernaux, to cite just one example, cannot be overlooked or underestimated. "Concentrates on estranging the familiar, on unsettling the commonplace, on eliciting the foreign-ness of the most domestic, local detail" (Publisher's blurb). This Diary and indeed, Leiris' entire oeuvre has been summed up, aphoristically, by one of his most brilliant translators in English, as follows: "His is the expressive power of fetishism" (Lydia Davis). An absolute "must-have" title for Michel Leiris collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and despite its imperfection (slight wear and creasing on the DJ, but it's there) is still in fine condition overall: Every single internal page is clean, crisp, and bright. The handsome silk-cloth boards are sharp, NOT bumped at all. It is NOT price-clipped. It is NOT remainder-marked. Copies available online have very serious flaws ("Good", "Very Good") yet command prices as though they had collectible value. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MICHEL LEIRIS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0941419061.