Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Amis, Kingsley. Bright November.. London, The Fortune Press [1947?] [1947?], 1947.
Price: US$108.49 + shipping
Description: 32 pp. Publisher's red cloth, gilt lettering on spine, no dust-jacket. A very good copy.
Seller: Rönnells Antikvariat AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Price: US$363.10 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition / First Print. Hardback copy in grey boards with gold gilt lettering to spine. Dustjacket in removable protective clear sleeve (price sticker of 10/6 to front dustjacket flap). 32pp. Signed and inscribed by author to piece of paper cut from autograph book, and pasted to title page 'All good luck, Kingsley Amis'. Not library copy, clean bright lettering to book spine, no previous owner inscriptions. Bottom corners to both dustjacket flaps clipped, wear and missing sections to dustjacket edges, with rubbing to lettering on spine. (22/3)
Seller: CURIO, Grimsby, N. E. Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Amis, Kingsley. Bright November. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$382.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: An excellent ex-library copy with some sunning to crown and foot of backstrip. In priceclipped jacket with tape repair at crown and signs of tape to foot of jacket spine. Pages clean. Binding solid. [ Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine 2. Near Fine 3. Very Good 4. Good 4. Fair ] Size: 12mo
Seller: Montreal Books, Westmount, QC, Canada
Amis, Kingsley. Bright November. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$382.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: An excellent ex-library copy with some sunning to crown and foot of backstrip. In priceclipped jacket with tape repair at crown and signs of tape to foot of jacket spine. Pages clean. Binding solid. [ Montreal Books rating system: 1. Fine 2. Near Fine 3. Very Good 4. Good 4. Fair ] Size: 12mo
Seller: RPBooks, Champlain, NY, U.S.A.
KINGSLEY AMIS. BRIGHT NOVEMBER. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition. The acclaimed author's first book ( poetry). A NEAR FINE book in grey boards with gilt lettering to spine. Darkening to the gutters the only flaw. Corner's a crisp and binding tight. The jacket is NEAR FINE ( darkened spine, price -clipped as is common with the publisher's "10/6" sticker present. For the Amis completist.
Seller: THE USUAL SUSPECTS (IOBA), St. Catharines, ON, Canada
Amis, Kingsley. Bright November. The Fortune Press, UK, 1947.
Price: US$573.32 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A UK first edition. The Wrapper : The wrapper on this copy is bright, unfaded and complete. It has been clipped - there is now a publisher's 12/6 sticker on the inside flap. The front panel is sound, showing toning at the edges and small chips to the corners. The spine is toned and lightly worn at the head and the tail. The back panel is bright, showing tiny chips at the corners and light wear at the top edge. Looks sharp. The Book : The book is square and very tight. There are no previous ownership inscriptions. The black boards are clean and unfaded, the corners sharp. There is a hint of trivial bruising to the spine ends. The pages are very clean. The closed page edges are bright. The text block is very, very slightly dulled. No foxing. No dog-eared pages. The binding is tight - no cracked hinges. A decent copy in a protected wrapper. Paypal accepted.
Seller: Cheltenham Rare Books, Cheltenham, United Kingdom
AMIS, Kingsley.. Bright November. Poems.. London: The Fortune Press, [1947], 1947.
Price: US$828.13 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, later issue binding, of the author's first published book. The publisher R. A. Caton was an elusive one-man publisher who founded The Fortune Press, based at 12 Buckingham Palace Road, in 1924. He specialised in gay writing (several Fortune Press productions were burned after the 1934 obscenity trials), and in taking on new poets (whom he rarely paid - but could afford to publish due to judicious stockpiling of paper stock during the war years). He published Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, and Philip Larkin, as well as Kingsley Amis, who delighted in the "Caton mystique" and wrote him into four of his novels as a thinly disguised rogue. Octavo. Rebound in near-contemporary red boards, spine lettered in gilt, edges uncut. With dust jacket. Slight smudge to p. 8, otherwise an excellent copy in the price-clipped jacket that has toned edges.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Kingsley Amis. Bright November. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$855.18 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Author's first published book contains 31 poems. FIRST EDITION, 2nd or 3rd state. Red cloth covered boards, with gilt text on spine, are in great condition; one small dot on back; binding is tight. Faded light blue DJ with blue text is wrapped in mylar and backed with archival paper; front flap has old price in pencil; spine is faded and browned; perimeters are faded to white/tan; 1/4" chip at back lower edge; very tiny chips at spine ends and 2 corners. Inside pages are clean and clear with light age-toning. Undated, but historically known as published in 1947. 32 pp. 5.25 x 7.75 inches. Postage for oversized and international shipping will be calculated by size and weight. AbeBooks shipping quotes are ESTIMATES only. If actual shipping cost is less than the AbeBooks estimate, it is our practice to REFUND the difference to the buyer. NOAMZ
Seller: Panoply Books, Lambertville, NJ, U.S.A.
AMIS, Kingsley.. Bright November. Poems.. London: The Fortune Press, [1947], 1947.
Price: US$1242.19 + shipping
Description: First edition, first-issue binding, presentation copy inscribed in the month of publication "Best wishes from Kingsley Amis, November 1947" on the front free endpaper. Bright November was Amis's first published book. The publisher Reginald Ashley Caton (1897-1971) was an elusive one-man publisher who founded The Fortune Press, based at 12 Buckingham Palace Road, in 1924. He specialised in gay writing (several Fortune Press productions were burned after the 1934 obscenity trials), and in taking on new poets, whom he rarely paid but could afford to publish due to judicious stockpiling of paper stock during the war years. He published Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, and Philip Larkin, as well as Kingsley Amis, who delighted in the "Caton mystique" and wrote him into four of his novels as a barely disguised rogue. Octavo. Original black morocco-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt, edges untrimmed. Rubbing to ends, corners, and somewhat along joints, slight partial sunning to the ink of Amis's inscription, a very good copy of this rather fragile publication.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Amis, Kingsley. Bright November. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$1911.06 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 32pp, original boards in DJ. DJ professionally restored to spine, top edge of front panel and folds. Slight rubbing to spine ends and corners of book, light browning to endpapers, otherwise quite bright and clean. Inscribed and signed by Amis to front endpaper, 'Best Wishes from Kingsley Amis November 1947' Size: 8vo
Seller: Temple Rare Books, Oxford, United Kingdom
Amis, Kingsley.. Bright November.. The Fortune Press, London, 1947.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Impression. A Fine copy in variant dark raspberry cloth thin boards, in a Fine unrestored dustwrapper, not worn or toned, price-clipped with 10/6 price-sticker affixed. 32pp. Amis's first book. Q17721
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.