HARTLEY, L. P. (1895-1972). The Go-Between, London, 1953, 8vo, original red cloth gilt, dust-jacket (a few short tears to the upper edge without loss, some minor creasing to the head of the backstrip). FIRST EDITION.

HARTLEY, L. P. (1895-1972).  The Go-Between. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1953. 8vo (184 x 120mm). Half title. Original red cloth, the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, top edges red (the gilding to the spine slightly faded), dust-jacket by "Biro" and "Book Society Choice" printed on the front turn in, with the price of 11s. unclipped (a few short tears to the upper edge without loss, some minor creasing to the head of the backstrip, some very light staining to the edges of the lower wrapper). FIRST EDITION. Please note that the original dust-jacket has been photographed in its modern protective archival Mylar wrapper, thereby avoiding any risk of damage through its temporary removal. "Hartley's best-known novel ... [is] narrated in the first person by an elderly man recalling in 1952 the events of the hot summer of 1900, when, staying with a schoolfriend in a Norfolk country house for the holidays, he innocently carried letters between the friend's sister and the local farmer with whom she was having an affair. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that this distant holiday has marked him for life. The portrayal of leisurely Edwardian England ... is masterly" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature, ed. Drabble, 1985). Boxall (Ed.) 1001 Books (2006) p.481: "... this quintessentially English novel ..." The novel was made into a critically-acclaimed film directed by Joseph Losey in 1971 starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, with a screenplay adapted from the novel by Harold Pinter. It won the Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival.