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Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$460.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Translated by Justin O'Brien. Blue cloth, silver title on spine. Spine a little darkened, else a very good copy. No dustwrapper. Neat ownership namer on the front free endpaper, and a bookseller ticket (Foyles) on the front pastedown. .

Seller: Thorn Books, ABAA, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.

Albert Camus Translated by Justin O'Brien. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, 1955.

Price: US$520.07 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: 1st printing.

Seller: Strawberry Hill Books, Rotherfield, East Sussex, United Kingdom

Albert Camus. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, 1955.

Price: US$845.11 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: A clean and crisp hardback first GB edition in a clean dust jacket, which has not been price-clipped. There is a tiny horizontal band of tanning to the blue cloth at the head of the spine, and a block of tanning to both the front and rear free endpapers. I have pictured the ffep. There is also a bit of foxing to the margins of the front paste-down. An old pencilled price-in shillings-remains in the top right-hand corner of the front free endpaper. The boards are clean and sharp, the binding is secure and the contents are clean and fresh. The dust jacket is in nice clean condition, but has a couple of nicks/short tears to the extremities: one on the top edge of the upper cover, the other in the bottom right-hand corner of the upper cover. I have provided a close-up image of the latter. A publisher's Compliments slip is loosely inserted at the beginning of the book. Overall, a pleasing example of the first GB edition.

Seller: T S Hill Books, Dorking, United Kingdom

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (1st printing). Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$950.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First printing; dust jacket is bright and clear but has small losses and closed tears at top and bottom of spine (see pictures)

Seller: Chris Duggan, Bookseller, St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.

CAMUS, ALBERT(Author).O'BRIEN, JUSTIN (Translator).. THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS and Other Essays >>FIRST ENGLISH EDITION<<. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$1235.16 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: 169, [3,blanks] printed pages. Royal College of Art Library 1955 bookplate with greek key pattern borders (there was a new design each year), manually "withdrawn" with date stamp, on front free paste-down endpaper. RCAL embossed discreetly at foot of title-page (also manually "withdrawn" with date stamp). Edges and endpapers slightly grubby with handling. Rear hinge split but firm. 15 x 22 cm. Original blue cloth, with silver lettering on spine. Corners very slightly worn, covers and top of spine a little stained. Hinges slightly worn and a trifle split, but firm. In original printed dustwrapper with greek key pattern borders and red and black sans serif font. Small tears at foot of upper wrapper and top and bottom of spine; generally good condition. Precedes the American edition. With translation into English by Justin O'Brien. Initially issued in the 1942 French edition, Le Mythe of Sisyphe. Awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, Camus was the spokesman of his own generation whose insistence on placing individual moral responsibility at the heart of all public choices cut sharply across the comfortable habits of the age. This copy became quickly worn out in its first two years by RCA students and was withdrawn in 1957. Provenance: George Freeman (1931-2019, former president of the Society of Industrial Artists & founder of George Freeman Design Consultants London) who, after the Northern Polytechnic & Central School of Arts and Crafts had various jobs in exhibition design but met Sir Hugh Casson who encouraged him to apply to the Royal College of Art (where Casson and his wife, Margaret, were running the interior design school). The Royal College of Art remains a foundation stone of the British arts; prominent alumni of the Royal College of Art include Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake, and Henry Moore. Len Deighton and Raymond Hawkey were contemporaries at the Royal College of Art in the 1950s & contributors to The Ark; Hawkey was employed to design the jacket for Deighton's debut, The Ipcress File, at Deighton's request, and Deighton was a designer himself before he found success as a writer, creating covers for UK editions of Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1956) and a 1960 Penguin cover for Iris Murdoch's Under the Net, among others. Basil Taylor may have withdrawn the book from the library. Taylor, lecturer at the RCA from the early 1950s, became the first college Librarian in 1953 then, in 1958, founded the School of General Studies (which, at the time, included George Steiner and Iris Murdoch on the faculty) & was considered a cultural guru at the time (linking the Fathers of Pop Art , Lawrence Alloway, Reyner Banham, Richard Hamilton, and Eduardo Paolozzi with the younger generation, David Hockney, Derek Boshier, Peter Phillips & Patrick Caulfield). During the post-war era, Art and literature were bound together by Existentialism, the dominant philosophy of individual freedom and moral responsibility. Camus The Myth of Sisyphus & other essays that includes The Artist and His Time (1955) was a key text in shaping the climate of the artistic period. The School of London, that included Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff (students at the Royal College of Art in 1955), Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud (both associated with the RCA through friendships with staff), all portrayed existentialist themes. The violent and contorted figures found in the paintings of Francis Bacon bleakly depicted the existential anguish of the individual. Frank Auerbach's works like Head of E.O.W. (1961), express his struggle with the materiality of paint and an attempt to find meaning and order in the chaos of existence. It would be fascinating to know exactly who read this copy.

Seller: Jason Burley, Camden Lock Books, ABA, ILAB & IOBA, London, United Kingdom

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$1500.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First British edition and the first English language edition. Bound in publisher's original blue cloth with spine lettered in silver. Near Fine with slight soiling to cloth, bumped corners, pages tanned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with tanning to the spine and edges, edge wear, and light chipping to spine ends. A nice copy.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$2999.94 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: Original blue cloth in Dust Jacket. First English Edition. Provenance: From the library of Professor William B. Bjornstad with his small, neat signature on the front free endpaper dated November 21, 1955 (the year of publication). Important statement of Camus’ philosophy of the absurd. “Heffer” written in small letters at foot of front flap of Dust Jacket, Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket.

Seller: Pride and Prejudice-Books, Ballston Lake, NY, U.S.A.

CAMUS, ALBERT.;.O'BRIEN, JUSTIN TRANS.. MYTH OF SISYPHUS and other essays. Hamish Hamilton Pub.;.TRINITY PRESS 1955 VERSO, London, 1955.

Price: US$3000.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: VERY GOOD CONDITION IN VERY GOOD UNCLIPT(15s. ne t ) DUST JACKET. Includes old newspaper page 778 from "THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT FRIDAY DECEMBER 23 1955" review by Translator for this edition.JUSTIN O'BRIEN,stated pr ice was 15s. (confirms this is first ed DUST JACKET) .Has left light tan area on inner ep, from being laid in since purchase.(now in its own plastic protector). (book look new, I do not describe any book above VG/VG.but it has no defects beside effect oof newspaper review. ; BOOK APPEARS WITH SILVER SPINE TITLES ON DARK BLUE TEXTURED HARD COVERS.Tan paper dust jacket has black & red titles. with red and black border designs. Back pane describes revies for THE PLAGUE. ; 169pgg pages; Hamish Hamilton. States "First published (Year)" or "First published in Great Britain in (Year)" on copyright page; notes subsequent printings.(this copy meets that standard, no subs. printing noted to proper statement verso.

Seller: WONDERFUL BOOKS BY MAIL, Durham-CA, CA, U.S.A.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, 1955.

Price: US$3000.00 + shipping

Description: It's difficult to find a more beautiful copy of this monumental absurdist text. Originally written in 1942, The Myth of Sisyphus is, in many ways, the literary companion to The Stranger--published that same year. As an introduction to his absurdist philosophy, this work addresses what is, in Camus' estimation, the only truly serious philosophical problem"--suicide. In Camus' own words: "This book declares that even within the limits of nihilism it is possible to find the means to proceed beyond nihilism. [The Myth of Sisyphus] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert." Translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. Includes the Times literary supplement from Friday Jan. 8, 1960, discussing Camus' influence. Inked in ownership along inside edge of ffep, light rippling to inside edge of front paste down from binding, some acid browning from laid in Times supplement (now in mylar sleeve). Text block is extremely clean, crisp, and tight, very near fine in near fine to fine dust jacket with a shade of toning to spine and just a touch of wear to spine head, NOT price-clipped, in mylar cover. First English Translation, first printing.

Seller: THE HERMITAGE BOOKSHOP, Denver, CO, U.S.A.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, London, 1955.

Price: US$3500.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First British edition and the first English language edition. Bound in publisher's original blue cloth with spine lettered in silver. Near Fine with very slight lean to spine, slight fading and wear to spine ends, offsetting to endsheets and contents lightly tanned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light tanning and a small indentation to the spine panel, light wear. A beautiful copy of a book that does not normally turn up in such nice condition.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.