"ONE OF THE BEST ENGLISH WRITERS OF THE DAY": FIRST EDITION OF THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER

SILLITOE, Alan. The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner. London: W.H. Allen, 1959. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. $700.

First edition of the first collection of stories by one of England’s most notable “Angry Young Men,” his second book, in the original dust jacket.

"Alan Sillitoe's second book, a collection of short stories, confirms the impression of some of us who think that Mr. Sillitoe is one of the best English writers of the day" (New York Times Book Review). Malcolm Bradbury's 1959 review of Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning praised his skills at depicting "that separate, undercover world of the English working man from the inside… If the heroes of some recent English novels are angry young men," wrote Bradbury, "Mr. Sillitoe is raging" (New York Times). Sillitoe also wrote the screenplay for the Tony Richardson's 1962 film of the same name, starring Tom Courtenay in his award-winning debut, and which helped launch the British New Wave film movement. In addition to the title story are "The Match," "On Saturday Afternoon" and six other tales.

A bit of offsetting to endpapers and very faint discoloration to cloth, book near-fine. Scarce original dust jacket with just a bit of wrinkling and faint toning along upper edge, clean and near-fine.