Quantity: 2. Previous owner's inscription. Very good copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Slight suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong.
Physical description: pages ; 21cm. Subjects: English essays -- 20th century. Published by Harper, New York, Original Cloth. First Edition in America. Published by London : William Heinemann, Previous owner's signature. Spine bands and panel edges slightly dust-toned and rubbed as with age. Remains particularly well-preserved overall. Physical description: x, pages ; 21cm. Near fine cloth copy in a good if somewhat edge-torn with some minor loss and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved.
Remains particularly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and strong. First edition copy. Good dust jacket.
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Stated First Edition. Priestley has sumptuously endowed with everything to provide hours of good entertainment. Bookplate of noted collector, Rolland Comstock, on front paste-down endpaper. Spine is skewed and loose. Normal edge wear. Bumps on corners and spine ends. Tanning to edges of pages. Otherwise, pages are clean and tight. Dust jacket protected in archival cover. DJ has moderate edge and shelf wear. Small tears on corners, spine ends, and along head and tail edges of back cover.
Crease down spine. Slightly darkened on spine and edges of covers. Slightly tanned. Tape on interior at stress points. Published by William Heinemann, London, No Jacket. Dark blue boards with JPB blocked in silver on front board in rh corner. Priestly's humour shows in his short encounters in this very readable book. There are pp split into Essays as he goes through life. Great read.
Seller: MW Books Ltd. From Ireland to U. Quantity: 3. Return to Book Page. Preview — Delight by J. Delight by J. Priestley first made his reputation in the literary world by virtue of his essays, especially short essays that captured the essence of a moment or a taste of magic; and his talents were never better displayed than in the collection entitled Delight.
For here are more than brief pieces that capture and record the moments of wonder and beauty that are found beneath J. For here are more than brief pieces that capture and record the moments of wonder and beauty that are found beneath the surface of everyday experience. Every essay bears that unique stamp of J. Priestley as he refers to the pleasures of music, theatre, travel, sport, playing games, childhood, etc. Terrific stuff! Great Northern Books did fans of Priestley a great favor when they brought out a 60th anniversary edition in , for the book had long been unavailable.
The anniversary edition contains, too, an introduction by Priestley 's son, Tom. Get A Copy. Hardcover , Special 60th anniversary edition , pages. Published by Great Northern Books first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Delight , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Delight. Aug 23, Anwen rated it it was amazing.
A collection of essays on the things - spiritual, intellectual and material - that provide the author with a frisson of delight. Some of these I immediately identified with the sublime smell of a cooking sausage , others I will never have knowledge of Priestley was a great pipe-smoker ; every essay, whether it deals with something within my circle of experience or not, is a delight to read.
Each word has been carefully selected and polished until the sentences flow. Most attractive of all, tho A collection of essays on the things - spiritual, intellectual and material - that provide the author with a frisson of delight. Most attractive of all, though, are the warm glimpses of character afforded by these essays. Priestley emereges, not as a distant playwright, but a living breathing man with a distinct sense of humour.
One who has a delight in the whimsical and a clear view of his own faults. Eminently likeable, these essays made me think, consider, and begin to wonder on what provides me, too, with the 'dingle-dangle of delight'. A gem that deserves to be on all good bookshelves. Nov 01, Keith rated it really liked it. Priestley has long been one of my favourite authors, indeed he is probably top of the list because I not only enjoyed most of the things he wrote, but I admired him as a great literary all-rounder and a true professional --the sort of author who could turn his hand to any kind of writing and do it well.
But his essays are what I have always enjoyed J. But his essays are what I have always enjoyed the most, and the great thing is that his range within the field of essay-writing is as broad as the rest of his output. He could produce the political piece, the social comment, such as in the collection 'A Voice in the Wilderness'; but he was, too, a master of the entertaining, light-hearted short essay, such as you find in 'Delight'.
He sub-titles his preface to this volume "A Grumbler's apology", but I think he overstated his tendency for grumbling. Mind you, he wasn't really the "Jolly Jack" figure, either. He was just someone who looked at life with the wisdom of a man who cared for people, a man who could be very serious, but always had a twinkle in those eyes!
A good man, a very good writer I first read 'Delight' in the s as a teenager, and it was just as much fun when I re-read it in the 60th anniversary edition. View all 3 comments. An utterly charming book of essays about things that delight Priestley an otherwise born complainer - i am thinking of beginning my own list of delights.
Some are striking gifts to the spirit, others are hilarious, and then, well, there are the ones on pipe tobacco and smoking, which don't speak so clearly to me - but then they are his first half of the 20th century choices. Not easy to find, but for the Anglophile a well worth searching out!
May 02, Oliver rated it it was amazing Shelves: england. I always found Priestly's plays a bit didactic and bombastic, but this beautiful book of witty notes barely essays on the things that gave Priestly pleasure is a thing of wonder. Very much a book about finding joy in small things. Some of them place the writing in another era - smoking a pipe in the bath, retiring to an Oxfordshire pub for a cheeky gin and tonic when leaving blitz torn London in , and writers and composers that have long since fallen from favour.
There is still plenty for I always found Priestly's plays a bit didactic and bombastic, but this beautiful book of witty notes barely essays on the things that gave Priestly pleasure is a thing of wonder. There is still plenty for the modern reader - the joys of listening to music when you know you should be working on something else "fiddling while Rome burns", buying books, the Marx Brothers, giving advice particularly when you know nothing about the subject , malicious chairmanship!
Priestly has his tongue firmly in his cheek on some of them, and loves to play the small boy hidden inside the aging curmudgeon - the essay on Lighthouses is barely four sentences long.
Aug 04, Malcolm rated it it was amazing. Wodehouse would always have been my desert island author until I read this I orginally came across an old copy of this in the dusty corner of a private library - I am so pleased it is available again.
Jun 26, Cirtnecce rated it it was amazing. Priestley is far too well known for any introductions; a prolific writer, he has written books and plays enough to fill shelves after shelves. I too have read many of his works and loved them and like Karen mentioned in her Blog, enjoyed the slightly grumpy tone of his writings. Delight however is a departure not only from his more famous works of fiction, but actually focuses on the those small everyday items that bring joy to the author.
Priestly begins this slim volume by offering a c J. Priestly begins this slim volume by offering a context of writing this book. He offers his defense for always appearing to be grumbling including that authors have the unique privilege and therefore obligation to speak the truth, especially those truths that may be costly for others who have jobs and other dependencies, because no will fire them from their job with mortgage and impact on his family.
Now, 60 years on, at a time when there is once more plenty to be gloomy about, the book has been reissued. There is much here to raise a smile, not least Priestley's wonderfully lucid, humorous prose, which is a delight in itself. The little things in which he takes pleasure are varied and often hugely affecting: dancing; fountains; a walk in a pine wood; a new box of matches; the sound of a football or an orchestra tuning up; long trousers; playing a cracking game of tennis; smoking in a hot bath; being silly with children; waking to the smell of bacon and coffee; getting a great idea.
Some of the subjects will ring fewer bells for 21st-century readers than they would have done for the author's contemporaries - taking a turn on the deck of a ship before breakfast, for instance, or trying a new type of tobacco are delights from another age.
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