WILLIAM BOYD (b.1952)
Any Human Heart. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2002.
First edition of Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart, with a delightful architectonic double-page pen and ink drawing signed and dated by the author. Drawn across the verso of half-title and title, Boyd’s architectural line-drawing has a tower of nine storeys reflecting the novel’s construction through a series of nine journaux intimes kept by the protagonist Mountstuart. The fictional writer is assumed to have lived from 1906-1991, and thus his life covers the defining episodes of the 20th century. Consequently, the novel is multi-layered and the inclusion in the printed text of features such as footnotes, cross-references and an index enables Boyd to insert himself as an editor to the fictionalised journals. Boyd subsequently wrote a screenplay adaptation which in 2010 was broadcast by Channel 4 in a four-part television series.

Octavo. Original red boards, gilt lettering to spine, green endpapers, pictorial dust jacket.

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