[Rarebooks] FS - Cockroaches & Diamonds

[GREENFIELD BOOKS]

*GOSS, John. /COCKROACHES AND DIAMONDS A Sonatina/*. Bound in original 
dark teal cloth with spine lettered in gilt. John Lane The Bodley Head, 
London. 1937. 1st edition, 8vo, pp. 315.

John Goss (1894-1953), a British musicologist, was the editor of several 
compilations, including "An Anthology of Song" (OUP, 1929), and "Ballads 
of Britain" (John Lane, 1937) and was very well-known in the twenties 
and thirties. This is his first and only novel. In place of the usual 
sequence of parts and chapters, Goss sub-divides his novel into 
movements - Andante Expressivo, Theme and Variations, Minuetto e Trio, 
etc,- and the treatment and tempo of his material vary accordingly. His 
chief characters - what musicians would call the first and second 
subjects - are a bewildered civil service clerk and a Prime Minister's 
daughter, and their thematic development, as it were, is worked out 
against a background of the British Reservation in one of the lesser 
known kingdoms of the East. This copy is inscribed on the title page and 
signed by Goss. Although copies of his books of songs can still be 
found, this title is very scarce indeed. WorldCat lists only one copy 
worldwide in an institutional holding. The boards are slightly scuffed 
with very slight wear to the tips. The contents are clean and tight and, 
overall, the book is in very good, to near fine, condition. The original 
dust jacket is slightly chipped along the edges, primarily near the 
folds, with a trace of soiling. It shows the original published price on 
the flap and is in good plus, to very good, condition.

Price: $250.00.

Terms of Sale - The price is in USD, and the book is offered subject to 
prior sale. Payment by check or credit card. Postage and packing charge 
is $7.50. Returnable within seven days of receipt if not as described.

 
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