Two Novels: the Flower Beneath the Foot & Prancing Nigger

New York, NY: New Directions. Very Good. 1962. First Edition Thus; First Printing. Paperback. Very Good in Wraps: shows mild rubbing to the panels and faint consequent soiling to the white background field of same; just a touch of wear to the extremities; some creasing to the backstrip; a former owner's name inscribed at the top of the half-title page; the binding leans slightly but remains secure; the text is clean. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. A carefully-used copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing mild wear and the noted imperfections. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 12mo. (7.15 x 4.25 x 0.85 inches) . 356 pages. Chronology by Miriam K. Benkovits. Language: English. Weight: 8.5 ounces. ND Paperback 128. Mass Market Paperback. Ronald Firbank (1886 – 1926) was an innovative British novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality. The Flower Beneath The Foot (1923) , the setting is an imaginary country somewhere in the Balkans. The characters include the King and Queen, sundry high-born ladies about the Court, and the usual attendant chorus of priests and nuns. His novels have been championed by many English novelists including E. M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Alan Hollinghurst and Simon Raven. The poet W. H. Auden praised him highly. Susan Sontag named his novels as part of "the canon of camp" in her 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp' .