A Walk in the Wilderness
London: Phoenix House, 1950. First Edition, First Printing.
A masterful collection of five long stories by one of the 20th century's most uncompromising chroniclers of the human condition.
Writing with a 'sombre power' noted by contemporary critics, Hanley explores the lives of the 'landlocked' and the 'newly-demobbed' in post-war England. This volume captures the 'buoyancy and excitement of a writer who is stretching himself' during his mid-century peak at Phoenix House.
KEY FEATURES
+++ Binding: Full publisher's cloth with gilt-stamped spine.
+++ Imprint: Phoenix House Limited, 38 William IV Street, London, 1950. First Published 1950 stated on copyright page. Features the distinct Phoenix House woodcut-style device. First Edition, first printing.
+++ Specs: 7.25 inches tall (octavo); [1-6] 7-192 pages.
+++ Content: Comprising five stories: 'A Walk in the Wilderness', 'Afterwards', 'The Road', 'Another World', and 'It Has Never Ended'.
CONDITION: Near Fine / Very Good.
+++ The Book: A Near Fine copy with tight and square bindings. The internal text is clean and free of markings, showing only the light, even age-toning typical of post-war British paper stock. Minimal shelf handling wear to the cloth.
+++ The Jacket: A Very Good unclipped dust jacket (priced 8s 6d net). The jacket remains vibrant but shows minor rubbing to the extremities and light shelf handling. Now preserved in an archival protective sleeve.
SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ Literary Merit: James Hanley was hailed by contemporaries like Pamela Hansford-Johnson as 'a great novelist' and was a favorite of E.M. Forster and T.E. Lawrence.
+++ Design: An excellent specimen of Phoenix House production, known for their clean, modernistic typography and high-quality jacket design.
+++ Context: These stories focus on the 'plight of old people without a home' and the psychological wilderness of post-war displacement, making this a vital primary source for the social history of 1950s Britain..
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE —
James Hanley remains one of the most significant, if occasionally overlooked, voices of British working-class modernism. Born in Liverpool to a seafaring family, his work is characterized by an intense, almost claustrophobic realism and a deep empathy for the marginalized.
This specific 1950 collection represents Hanley at a transitional moment, moving from his early, visceral maritime tales to the more psychological, interior 'Wilderness' of domestic life. Critics of the era, including those at 'The Times Literary Supplement', identified this volume as a demonstration of Hanley’s 'sombre power' and 'nervous fluidity'.
For the collector of modern first editions, Hanley represents a 'writer’s writer'—an author whose institutional value has remained steady due to his uncompromising style and his influence on the 'Angry Young Men' and later British realists.
SUBJECTS: James Hanley, Post-War British Fiction, Modernism, Social Realism, Short Stories, Modern First Edition, British Literature.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE: Gibbs,A.34a.
Item #21902
Price: $45.00
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