Baltasar and Blimunda.

SARAMAGO, Jose.

$1,400.00

Item Number: 140911

London: Jonathan Cape, 1987.

First British edition of Saramago’s first book to be translated into English. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Harold with best wishes Jose Saramago 29.10.2008.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by Rosemary Woods. Translated from the Portuguese by Giovanni Pontiero.

The New York Times Book Review has said that Baltasar and Blimunda "[m]uch reverberates in memory after reading this enchanting novel, but most of all the love story which soars over the rest of the action like a flute above a heavy orchestra. Mr. Saramago, a writer of sharp intelligence, keeps this love story under strict control, free of pathos or sentimentality. It is of, and on, the earth." Indeed, "Saramago has produced a novel that is deeply imbedded in the history of his land yet moves in mystical realms. It is a romance and an adventure, a rumination on royalty and religion in 18th century Portugal and a bitterly ironic comment on the uses of power" (Walter Goodman, The New York Times).