MURDOCH, Iris (1919-99). Under the Net, London, 1954, 8vo, original bright green cloth, dust-jacket (small piece torn away from the backstrip). FIRST EDITION of the author's first novel. RARE.

MURDOCH, Iris (1919-99).  Under the Net. London: Chatto & Windus, 1954. 8vo (198 x 130mm). Half title (mainly marginal stains to pp.11-14). Original bright green cloth, the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, dust-jacket by Victor Ross with price of 12s. 6d. unclipped (the dust-jacket with a V-shaped part torn away from the head of the backstrip extending into a short tear, not affecting letters, very slightly faded at the edges and at backstrip, some very light browning to the edges of the lower wrapper). Provenance: [?]Hollister - '54 (signature on the front free endpaper, with additional pencil notes); Foyles (small bookseller's label on the front pastedown). FIRST EDITION of the author's first novel. 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. Boxall (Ed.) 1001 Books (2006) p.481: "Iris Murdoch's first published novel, Under the Net, captures the exuberant spirit of freedom in postwar Europe ... Beneath the surface of the fast-moving narrative lies a wealth of philosophical questioning: Murdoch contests existential ideas of freedom; she asks what it means to be in love; and she rigorously questions what makes a good writer and what constitutes good art. Underlying these ideas are the questions of how accurately thought can be translated into language (language is the net of the title) and how far art distances us from reality, rather than bringing us closer to it ..." RARE.