Description
8vo, IX, 547pp. Hardcover in blue cloth with gilt titling on the spine that is firm and tight with no scuffing or corner bruising anywhere and is in excellent ‘as-new’ condition as is the original first edition non price-clipped d/w in mottled dark blue with red and gold titles and the classic two feuding religious figures in centre of the front cover, now protected by clear archival covering, the text is in a fine state devoid of any foxing or extraneous markings o/t the bona fide scrawled signature of Rushdie dedicated ‘to Tolerance’ in fine black ink on the title page, making this book a fine or near-fine copy. One of the most famous books of the twentieth century by arguably the world’s most famous living author, Sir Salman Rushdie (born 19/6/1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist and after this his fourth novel, he famously became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a ‘fatwah’ calling for his death issued by the Iranian supreme leader at the time Ruhollah Khomeni due to his depiction of the prophet Mohammed. In fact, numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, hence sparking the obvious debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. Finally in 2022, whilst on stage to deliver a lecture in New York, he was attacked by a knife weilding madman, but miraculously survived to continue his lecturing work wearing a black eye-patch over his right eye socket, thereby becoming really one of the most eloquently courageous writers of our time, making a stand for the rights of authors world-wide, poignantly asking for “Tolerance ” in his rare inscription.
