Douglas, Norman. SOUTH WIND. Martin Secker, London, 1917.

Price: US$200.00 + shipping

Description: Octavo, 464 pages; VG; in publisher's brown cloth, housed inside a custom brown slipcase with matching chemise, slipcase with ox-blood label and gilt lettering; binding threatening to crack at title page; mild rubbing to boards; First issue, with lines 1 and 2 on page 335 in the proper order; WD consignment; shelved case 6. South Wind is Douglas' most famous book and his only success as a novelist. It is set on an imaginary island called Nepenthe, located off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a thinly fictionalized description of Capri's residents and visitors. The narrative concerns twelve days during which Thomas Heard, a bishop returning to England from his diocese in Africa, yields his moral vigor to various influences. Philosophical hedonism pervades much of Douglas' writing, and the novel's discussion of moral and sexual issues caused considerable debate. [wikipedia]. 1317568. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.

Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.

DOUGLAS, Norman (1868-1952). SOUTH WIND. Martin Secker, London, 1917.

Price: US$320.82 + shipping

Description: First Edition, first printing, with the two lines transposed on p335. Original chocolate brown cloth with gilt title lettering to the spine. Ex. libris Oliver Brett, with his ornate armorial bookplate. Preserved in a purpose built slipcase with gilt lettering, edges slightly rubbed. A Fine copy.

Seller: Worlds End Bookshop (ABA, PBFA, ILAB), LONDON, United Kingdom

DOUGLAS, Norman.. South Wind.. London, Martin Secker [1917]., 1917.

Price: US$500.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first issue (so stated; "First Published March 1917") with the first two lines on p. 335 transposed. . 8vo. Original brown cloth stamped in gilt on the spine. No dust jacket. 464 pages. Very good. No signatures or bookplates. Enclosed in a 1/2 brown morocco over brown cloth slipcase, with chemise. Woolf A19. "Copies in this state are rareer." Woolf p. 52.

Seller: Houle Rare Books/Autographs/ABAA/PADA, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.

DOUGLAS, Norman.. South Wind.. London: Martin Secker, 1917, 1917.

Price: US$641.63 + shipping

Description: First edition, first impression, of the author's best-known work. The story is concerned with the 12-day visit of Thomas Heard to the imaginary island of Nepenthe, inspired to Capri (where the author lived), during which the English bishop yields his moral rigour to the mysterious influence of sirocco, the south wind. In his autobiography Late Harvest (1946), Douglas commented on the genesis of the book: "South Wind was the result of my craving to escape from the wearisome actualities of life. To picture yourself living in a society of such instability, of such 'jovial immoderation' and 'frolicsome perversity' that even a respectable bishop can be persuaded to approve of murder – this was my aim". Woolf notes two states of p. 335, with or without the transposition of the first two lines, adding that these were issued simultaneously and neither indicates priority. In the present copy, the first two lines are in the correct order. Woolf A19. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine lettered gilt, outer edge untrimmed. Housed in a blue cloth slipcase and chemise. Light bumps to spine ends and lower corners, minor rubbing to extremities, faint offsetting to outer leaves, contents clean. A very good copy indeed.

Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom

Douglas, Norman. South Wind.. Martin Secker, London, 1917.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Description: First edition of the author's classic work based on the island of Capri. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise case. The South Wind of the title is the Sirocco, which wreaks havoc with the islanders' sense of decency and morality. Much of the natural detail in the book is provided by Capri and other Mediterranean locations that Douglas knew well. The island's name Nepenthe denotes a drug of Egyptian origin (mentioned in the Odyssey) which was capable of banishing grief or trouble from the mind. The novel was written in Capri and in London, and after its publication in June 1917 it went through seven editions rapidly, achieving startling large-scale success. Critics at the time complained about the lack of a well-constructed plot. The book was adapted for the stage in London in 1923 by Isabel C. Tippett, and Graham Greene considered the possibility of writing a film script based on it.

Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.