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The Enigma of Arrival

The Enigma of Arrival

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The Enigma of Arrival

by V S Naipaul

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Fine/Fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Item Price
CA$690.10
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About This Item

A wonderful first printing of the first American edition [Knopf New York 1987], signed by the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, V S Naipaul, directly on the title page. The book has some light toning on the end papers, else fine condition with no remainder marks, a tight and square binding, with no owner inscriptions or highlighting or marking. The dust jacket is also in fine condition, not price-clipped ($17.95), with no creases, chips or tears and minimal shelf wear. It is now protected by an archival cover which is easily removable. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information. A very scarce and collectible book.

Synopsis

An autobiography for the most part, the book is composed of five sections reflecting the growing familiarity and changing perceptions of Naipaul upon his arrival in various countries.  The majority of the action takes place in Wiltshire, England, where Naipaul has rented a cottage in the countryside. He sees the area around his cottage as a frozen piece of history, unchanged for hundreds of years. However, during his extended stay at this cottage where he is working on another novel, he notices the area for what it is: a forever changing place with ordinary people simply existing away from the rest of the world. This causes the author to reflect upon the nature of perceiving our surroundings and how much these perceptions are affected by our preconceptions.   He reflects on his own emigration from Trinidad to New York City, and his following removal to England and Oxford. Naipaul’s novel illustrates the growing understanding of his place in this new environment and the complicated relations of the people and land around them. 

Read More: Identifying first editions of The Enigma of Arrival

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Details

Bookseller
C&S Books CA (CA)
Bookseller's Inventory #
001122.1
Title
The Enigma of Arrival
Author
V S Naipaul
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
1st Edition
Publisher
Knopf
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1987
Size
8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall
Weight
0.00 lbs

Terms of Sale

C&S Books

30 day return guarantee, with full refund for up to 30 days after delivery if you are dissatisfied with the item. Item must be returned to us in the condition it was originally shipped. Please email us with your concerns. International customers (outside the US and Canada) should contact us for an exact shipping quote before ordering.

About the Seller

C&S Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2023
Windsor, Ontario

About C&S Books

At C&S Books we have been collecting books for many years. We appreciate the beauty of a truly collectible book, with regard to both edition and condition. We maintain a small inventory of carefully curated first editions, many signed by award winning authors.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Tight
Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
Shelf Wear
Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
Title Page
A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
Remainder
Book(s) which are sold at a very deep discount to alleviate publisher overstock. Often, though not always, they have a remainder...
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...

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