Sweet Desserts

(New York): Viking, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. First US edition, first printing, octavo size, 155 pp., inscribed and additionally signed by the author. This Lucy Ellmann's (b. 1956) debut novel, the winner of the Guardian Prize for Best First Novel. She went on to further awards, including being longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction for her fourth novel, "Dot in the Universe" and shortlisted for the Believer Book Award (for the same novel); another novel, "Ducks, Newburyport" was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 2019; it won the Goldsmiths Prize for 2019 and the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction in 2020.

A contemporary review of "Sweet Desserts" illuminates Ellmann's skills: "...an unsentimental eye for the incongruities of modern life; a bawdy sense of humor; and a distinctive voice, by turns angry and regretful, poetic and dyspeptic" (from a review by Michiko Kakutani published in the New York Times Book Review section June 6, 1989).

This volume wonderfully inscribed by Ellmann thus: "For [name withheld], / With whom I dis- / cussed the possibility / of a diet solely consisting / of bananas, about / 20 years ago. / Much love, / Lucy". Signed copies appear somewhat scarce, as of this writing we see only one other signed copy online.

Note that this is the first printing of the first US edition; the true first is the UK publication, which came out a year earlier, in 1988, which explains the review blurbs on the back panel of the dust jacket, noting the book won The Guardian Prize for Best First Novel.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter navy blue cloth over lavender paper-covered boards with pink lettering on the spine, lavender endpapers, Ellmann's inscription (as set forth above) on the half-title page, on the title page she crossed out her printed name and signed directly below, an Index (oddly for a novel) at the rear; octavo size (8 1/2" by 5 5/8"), pagination: [i-x] 1-145. The illustrated dust jacket shows the original price of $17.95, summary of the book on the front flap, author bio and black-and-white head shot on the back flap, the aforementioned review blurbs on the back panel.

___CONDITION: Volume near fine, the boards clean, the top corners gently bumped and the bottom corners straight, all without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; light sunning to the top edges of the boards and toning to the text pages. The dust jacket also near fine, not price-clipped, clean, with minimal edgewear and sunning to the spine and top edges.

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