CHODERLOS DE LACLOS, Pierre (Richard Aldington, translator)

Dangerous Acquaintances (Les Liaisons dangereuses) [Review Copy]

New York: New Directions, 1952. Alvin Lustig, George Barrows. First Edition. Hardcover with Dust Jacket. 8vo. Pp. xxii, 370. Half red cloth over black boards, titles stamped in gilt on the spine. In the Lustig + Barrows illustrated dust jacket, unclipped ($3.75). New Directions reviewer card laid in, publication dated August 27, 1952. Edges and endpapers lightly age toned and foxed. Spine ends and lower corner very lightly bumped. Jacket spine chips and short closed tear, back lightly soiled. Very Good / Very Good. Item #5788

First printing of this New Directions edition, using a translation first published in England in 1946. The ghostly dust jacket design by Alvin Lustig and George Barrows is a little busier than Lustig's designs for New Directions, juxtaposing an ancient statue, with a letter envelope bearing a skull within a spider web. Please see Purity of Aim: The Book Jacket Designs of Alvin Lustig by Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger, p. 53. Dust jacket preserved in a removable clear archival sleeve.

Price: $150.00