BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 30 “I, Tiberius Claudius… Am Now About To Write This Strange History Of My Life” 39GRAVES, Robert. I, Claudius. London, 1934. Octavo, original black cloth, dust jacket. $5500 First edition of Graves’ most famous novel, a very nice copy in the original dust jacket. Drawing from such ancient sources as Tacitus and Suetonius, Graves created the secret “autobiography” of Claudius, narrated “in the imaginatively and idiosyncratically conceived persona of the emperor” (Drabble, 412). “In I, Claudius and its successor, Claudius the God, Robert Graves wrote two of the most resonant historical novels of the century… Graves displays a scholarly and imaginative understanding of the mores and ethos of the Roman world, and sensationalizes his material only as much as must be expected from a novelist with a living to earn… Graves’ people are real Romans, and Claudius’ autobiography is credible as the product of a Roman mind” (Parker, 175). Both the Modern Library and Time magazine named the book one of their 100 Best Novels, and the BBC dramatized it in 1976 with Derek Jacobi as the lead. Book with spine foot bumped and minor spotting to text block edges; dust jacket with faint toning to spine, light edge wear, and a small nick to upper edge of front panel. A very good copy. “One Of The World’s Literary Masterpieces” 40CONRAD, Joseph. Lord Jim, A Tale. Edinburgh and London, 1900. Octavo, original green cloth, custom clamshell box. $5500 First edition, first issue, of Conrad’s brilliant exploration of morality and the torment of guilt, “second only to Heart of Darkness in renown,” in the original cloth. To critic Cedric Watts, Conrad’s Lord Jim is “one of the world’s literary masterpieces… a book of the rare literary quality of Lord Jim is something to receive with gratitude and joy.” (New York Times Book Review). “Second only to Heart of Darkness in renown” (Joseph Conrad Companion), Lord Jim is “the first full-length work of Conrad’s artistic maturity… the novel is, moreover, deeply personal, with roots in Conrad’s past… [and] has retained its place as one of Conrad’s most widely enjoyed and studied books. It has remained so for the brilliance of its technical innovations as well.” Cagle A5.a. Bookplate of noted violinist and conductor Efrem Zimbalist. Scattered light foxing, mostly to first and last few leaves; cloth with mild soiling to spine and rear panel, spine a bit toned. A very nice copy.
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