Wise Children

Large 8vo., publisher’s black linson boards, spine lettered in gilt; together in the unclipped photographic dustwrapper (£13.99 to front flap); with illustrated endpapers designed by Corinna Sargood; pp. [vi], 234; a near-fine copy, just a touch bumped to spine tips; the wrapper also near-fine, with just a little toning and creasing. 

First edition. This copy complete with the original publisher’s bookplate, signed by Carter in black ink, loosely inserted. Two contemporary newspaper clippings are also loosely laid in, both containing Carter’s obituary. 

'Wise Children' is a comic and theatrical tale written following Carter's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer in 1991. Strongly influenced by Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', the plot follows the twins Dora and Nora Chance, and the lives of two eccentric families over the course of the twentieth century. Travelling from London to Hollywood and back again, the reader is catapulted into the magic of the theatrical world, ending in the present day on the hundredth birthday of the twin's father, the enigmatic Sir Melchior. What remains is richly magical, carnivalesque, and somewhat moving work incorporating Carter's penchant for fairytales and magical realism. 

Carter passed away shortly after publication, in February 1992, at the tragically young age of just 51. In 2018, the stage adaptation by Emma Rice premiered at The Old Vic in London. 

SKU: 1800160