London: Secker & Warburg, 1982

8vo, pp. 186. Original red boards, lettered in silver to spine. Printed dust jacket. A fine copy in a very good dust jacket, a little marked and darkened.

First edition, INSCRIBED BY WILSON TO HIS EDITOR JOHN BLACKWELL: 'to John Blackwell-- as ever: "il miglior fabbro" -- or something. Many thanks & all good wishes. Andrew'.

John Blackwell [1937-1997] joined Secker and Warburg in the late 1960s, when the imprint was still an independent company run by Fredric Warburg himself. He was a constant presence through the company's innumerable corporate takeovers, mergers and changes of managing director. He was Tom Sharpe's editor, and as well as Wilson was literary midwife to J. M. Coetzee, Michael Moorcock, John Banville, Tom McGuane, Malcolm Bradbury and Louis de Bernieres, among many others.