Out of Africa.

DINESEN, Isak. [Karen Blixen].

Item Number: 134204

New York: Random House, 1938.

First edition of the author’s classic memoir, which recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya. Octavo, original half cloth. With an original black and white photograph of Blixen gardening at her Rungstedlund estate, inscribed by her on the verso, “With kindest greetings and best wishes and with thanks for all your kindness in 1957 Tania.” Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen) used several pen names including: Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countries, Tania Blixen, used in German-speaking countries, Osceola, and Pierre Andrézel. She was born in the manor house of Rungstedlund, north of Copenhagen which she acquired from her father in 1879. Most of Blixen’s writing was done at the manor in Ewald’s Room, named after author Johannes Ewald. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. The photograph is in near fine condition. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed.

From 1914 to 1931, Danish aristocrat Baroness Karen Blixen owned and operated a coffee plantation in Kenya. After the plantation failed, she returned to Europe and began to write under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Out of Africa reads like a collection of stories in which she adheres to no strict chronology, gives no explanation of the facts of her life, and apologizes for nothing. Basis for the film bearing the same name, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, which went on to win seven Academy Awards. Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 best non-fiction books of the twentieth century.