A Fine and Private Place.

BEAGLE, Peter S.

$750.00

Item Number: 146917

New York: The Viking Press, 1960.

First edition of Peter Beagle’s first fantasy novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Peter Beagle on the front free endpaper with a smiley in the “P.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by George Salter. An exceptional signed example.

In a fantastical book about a man who can speak to ghosts and the talkative raven who keeps him company, Peter S. Beagle created a masterful work of charm and warmth that has comforted and entertained readers since its publishing in 1960. 'A Fine and Private Place' derives its name from 17th century poet Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress': "The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace," a verse that rotated in Beagle's mind and spun into its opposite, an ultimate confession of humanity and love. The book has since been published in many other forms and translated into at least ten other languages for readers to enjoy.