The Dark Monarch. A Portrait from Within
London, The Galley Press, 1962.
Octavo, xii (last blank), 204 pages with numerous illustrations (after artwork by the author).
Yellow cloth, lettered and decorated in gilt on red panels on the spine and front cover; cloth lightly foxed along and near the top edges; top edge and endpapers lightly foxed; an excellent copy with the unclipped dustwrapper a little rubbed and scuffed, with a small and trifling sticker blemish to the front panel.
Sven Berlin (1911-1999), conscientious objector, soldier, artist, and poet, published his war memoir, 'I am Lazarus', in 1961. Its 'psychobiographic' sequel was published in the autumn of 1962, and 'after a few weeks and a flurry of libel actions, withdrawn. Since that time, a few of the surviving copies have appeared on the market, where they commanded a considerable price. The work was a roman a clef, a thinly-disguised and irreverent portrait of St Ives and the artists and others, many now world-famous names, who lived and worked there. Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Bernard Leach, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, are but some of those described. Their daily doings and foibles are all revealed, as are those of lesser characters, such as Guido Morris, the craft printer and various poets. Of these, it was Arthur Caddick who was to be Sven Berlin's nemesis, and he it was who led the four libel litigants. The work could be said to portray "St Ives Art Colony with the lid off!"' (the author's website).
Item #111457
Sold