No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories

London: Jonathan Cape, 1971. First Edition. Hardcover. As New/Near Fine+. First Impression of the Nobelist's third work of fiction, after Leaf Storm. 8vo: [6],170pp. Publisher's steel-grey finely woven cloth, spine stamped in silver gilt, top edge stained red, illustrated dust jacket printed in green, yellow, and red, priced £1.50. A superb example, virtually As New (and probably unread), in a brilliant jacket marred only by a minute closed tear to top of back panel and hint of rubbing to spine panel's tip. Yet another example of the value to be found in the graphically superior designs of most UK editions of American authors's works. "Written between 1956 and 1957 and first published in 1961, the title novella (the book also includes a second, longer novella, Big Mama's Funeral) tells the story of an impoverished, retired colonel, a veteran of the Thousand Days' War, who still hopes to receive the pension he was promised some fifteen years earlier. The colonel lives with his asthmatic wife in a small village under martial law, during the years of "La Violencia" in Colombia, when martial law and censorship prevailed. They have lost their only son to political repression. In his memoir Vivir para contarla (Living to Tell the Tale, 2002), García Márquez explained that the story was inspired by his grandfather, who was also a colonel and who never received the pension he was promised. But it's also possible he drew inspiration from his experience of unemployment in 1956 after the newspaper he had been working for shut down, when he witnessed the lives of the many destitute around him. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.