The Day of Creation

Large 8vo., black boards lettered in gilt to spine with publisher’s device to foot; together in the pictorial dustwrapper illustrated by Paul Wright (unclipped, £10.95 to front flap); pp. [iv], 5-254, [ii]; a near-fine copy, with tiny knocks to lower right hand corner of front board and head of spine; the wrapper lightly and evenly sunned at backstrip, near-fine. 

First edition. This copy signed by Ballard in his flowing hand to the title page. 

Ballard’s twelfth novel, directly following the success of Empire of the Sun (1984). Told from the perspective of Doctor John Mallory, and set in war-torn Africa, this narrative follows the protagonist’s attempts to run a WHO clinic between the border of Chad and Sudan. When that fails, he instead vows to bring water to the region - a vow which becomes reality in a strange and bizarre miracle when a spring begins to bubble to the surface of the parched land. He then sets off on a quest to discover the source of his ‘River Mallory’, encountering a series of filmmakers, child soldiers and a host of other characters along the way. 

A very fresh example.  

SKU: 1800153