Utz

New York, New York, USA: Viking Penguin, 1989. BH5 - A tight, clean, sound copy with very minor overall shelf wear plus the front endpaper has been removed as part of the library's withdrawal process plus there are the usual library stamps and labels on the top outside paper edges, title page, and dedication page plus there is some light tape staining on the outside board surfaces from where the dust jacket was taped down to the boards. The dust jacket shows no visible signs of wear plus there is the usual library label on the spine plus it is still in the original library mylar sleeve. The story of a man who is the owner of a spectacular collection of Meissen porcelain which survived World War II and the years of Stalinism in Czechoslovakia and now rests in his two room flat in the city of Prague. He nurses a qualm that art collecting is a kind of idolatry. The book functions as a parable for the imagination as the personality and personhood of this main character is remodeled as each new detail of his life is uncovered. The author is a winner of the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Hawthronden Prize of the Society of Authors in Great Britain. By the author of "In Patagonia," "The Viceroy of Ouidah," "On the Black Hill," and "The Songliners." 154p.. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Ex-Library.