INSCRIBED BY HANLEY

Hanley, James (1897–1985)

People Are Curious [Association Copy – Inscribed to Ben Raeburn]

London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1938. First Edition, First Printing.
A FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED BY JAMES HANLEY, ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE VOICES OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH FICTION.
Hanley possessed an uncommon ability to portray the lives of working-class men and women with psychological depth, presenting ordinary existence with an intensity that placed him among Britain's most distinctive twentieth-century novelists. 

A MODERNIST EXPLORATION OF ORDINARY LIVES.
Written on the eve of the Second World War, the novel reflects Hanley's continuing interest in human relationships, social tensions, and the hidden emotional lives that exist beneath everyday experience. While less frequently encountered than his maritime fiction, it remains an important part of his literary development.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Original publisher's blue cloth binding with paper spine title label. 308 pages. Title page, dedication leaf, and publisher's list present. Printed by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London. Issued without illustrations. Octavo, measuring approximately 7.5 inches tall.

CONDITION: Good. The bindings are tight and square. Text is clean with light, even age-toning. Moderate shelf handling wear. The paper spine label remains present. The spine is noticeably sun-faded. Lacking the dust jacket. 

AUTHOR INSCRIPTION TO BEN RAEBURN.
Inscribed by James Hanley to Ben Raeburn, the visionary founder of Horizon Press, one of the important independent literary publishers of the mid-twentieth century. This copy came from Raeburn's estate, establishing a direct association with a publisher whose influence helped shape postwar literary publishing.

LITERARY SIGNIFICANCE: JAMES HANLEY AND THE BRITISH MODERNIST NOVEL.
 James Hanley occupies a distinctive place in twentieth-century British literature. Best known for his uncompromising portrayals of sailors, laborers, and marginalized lives, he developed a literary voice that combined modernist experimentation with psychological realism. Although often overshadowed by better-known contemporaries, his work has received increasing scholarly attention for its influence on post-war British fiction.

People Are Curious belongs to Hanley's mature period, demonstrating his sustained examination of character and society beyond the maritime settings for which he first became known. 

SUBJECTS: James Hanley, First Edition, Inscribed Copy, British Modernism, Literary Fiction, Interwar Literature, John Lane, Bodley Head, Modern Literature, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Modernism, Signed Books

Item #22343

Price: $35.00