The Black Book

'The most exhilarating surge of language, style and sordid English manners [in] literature.' DBC Pierre 'A wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza ... Richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny ... Above all, stylistically and verbally inventive.' Observer Death Gregory has disappeared, abandoning his diaries in a seedy London hotel . Discovered by Lawrence Lucifer, they depict a clique of intellectuals living a life of squalid debauchery: struggling writers and artists consumed by loves, lusts, and a quest for innovation. But as they satisfy violent appetites of the flesh - and mind - their descent into darkness accelerates ... Written when he was only 24, Lawrence Durrell described his controversial third novel as 'a two-fisted attack on literature by an angry young man of the thirties' in which he 'first heard the sound of my own voice.' First published in Paris in 1938, it was banned in Britain for nearly four decades due to its 'obscenity' (influenced by Durrell's friend Henry Miller ). Vivid, surrealist, and haunting, The Black Book peers into the recesses of our souls: and establishes Durrell as a trailblazing stylist. 'Stygian prose ... Words like stones, throwing, rockerying, mossing, churning, sharpening, bloodsucking, melting, and a hard firewater flows and rolls through them .' Dylan Thomas 'Genuine art ... Lavishly displays Durrell's gift of language ... Verbal brilliance.' New York Times 'The first piece of work by a new English writer to give me any hope for the future of prose fiction.' T.S. Eliot 'Durrell's first major work ... Its showy brilliance is certainly that of a born writer ... Savage and obscene.' Guardian 'Brilliantly strange ... It will astonish.' Independent on Sunday

'The most exhilarating surge of language, style and sordid English manners [in] literature.' DBC Pierre 'A wild, passionate, brilliantly gaudy and flamboyant extravaganza ... Richly obscene, energetically morbid, very often very funny ... Above all, stylistically and verbally inventive.' Observer Death Gregory has disappeared, abandoning his diaries in a seedy London hotel . Discovered by Lawrence Lucifer, they depict a clique of intellectuals living a life of squalid debauchery: struggling writers and artists consumed by loves, lusts, and a quest for innovation. But as they satisfy violent appetites of the flesh - and mind - their descent into darkness accelerates ... Written when he was only 24, Lawrence Durrell described his controversial third novel as 'a two-fisted attack on literature by an angry young man of the thirties' in which he 'first heard the sound of my own voice.' First published in Paris in 1938, it was banned in Britain for nearly four decades due to its 'obscenity' (influenced by Durrell's friend Henry Miller ). Vivid, surrealist, and haunting, The Black Book peers into the recesses of our souls: and establishes Durrell as a trailblazing stylist. 'Stygian prose ... Words like stones, throwing, rockerying, mossing, churning, sharpening, bloodsucking, melting, and a hard firewater flows and rolls through them .' Dylan Thomas 'Genuine art ... Lavishly displays Durrell's gift of language ... Verbal brilliance.' New York Times 'The first piece of work by a new English writer to give me any hope for the future of prose fiction.' T.S. Eliot 'Durrell's first major work ... Its showy brilliance is certainly that of a born writer ... Savage and obscene.' Guardian 'Brilliantly strange ... It will astonish.' Independent on Sunday

The fifth Inspector Rebus novel from the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES 'Ian Rankin is a genius ' Lee Child When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself... **** Ian Rankin's A HEART FULL OF HEADSTONES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10th October 2022 and w/c 1st May 2023

The fifth Inspector Rebus novel from the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES 'Ian Rankin is a genius ' Lee Child When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself... **** Ian Rankin's A HEART FULL OF HEADSTONES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10th October 2022 and w/c 1st May 2023

Einen Klassiker der Mapplethorpe-Literatur, vielleicht den besten, mit Sicherheit für viele den 'typischsten' Mapplethorpe, legen wir aus diesem Anlaß wieder neu auf. The Black Book, 1986 erstmals erschienen, fasziniert und schockiert heute wie damals - nur die Gewichtungen haben sich verlagert. Was Mitte der 80er Jahre vorrangig die Zensur beschäftigte, ist inzwischen museumswürdig geworden und nicht mehr Gegenstand juristischer Auseinandersetzungen, sondern soziologischer und formalästhetischer Analysen. Auch zwanzig Jahre nach seinem Tod ist Robert Mapplethorpes Hommage an den schwarzen männlichen Körper einer der wichtigsten visuellen Beiträge zur Diskussion über Schönheit, Sinnlichkeit und Sexualität in der Photographie. 6. Auflage.

Einen Klassiker der Mapplethorpe-Literatur, vielleicht den besten, mit Sicherheit für viele den 'typischsten' Mapplethorpe, legen wir aus diesem Anlaß wieder neu auf. The Black Book, 1986 erstmals erschienen, fasziniert und schockiert heute wie damals - nur die Gewichtungen haben sich verlagert. Was Mitte der 80er Jahre vorrangig die Zensur beschäftigte, ist inzwischen museumswürdig geworden und nicht mehr Gegenstand juristischer Auseinandersetzungen, sondern soziologischer und formalästhetischer Analysen. Auch zwanzig Jahre nach seinem Tod ist Robert Mapplethorpes Hommage an den schwarzen männlichen Körper einer der wichtigsten visuellen Beiträge zur Diskussion über Schönheit, Sinnlichkeit und Sexualität in der Photographie. 6. Auflage.