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The Power-House

Lot 9
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 8 820
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1016472
Lot 9 | The Power-House
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 8 000
The Power-House

John Buchan

BUCHAN, John (1875-1940). The Power-House. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1916.



First edition in book form of the first of Buchan's novels to feature the barrister and Tory MP Edward Leithen. Written in 1913, when it was serialised in Blackwood's Magazine, the plot centres around an international anarchist organisation, the titular Power-House. Determined to destroy western civilization, the Power-House is led by a rich Englishman named Andrew Lumley, and is a sort of proto-Bilderberg Group, comprised of ‘nameless brains’ and ‘great extra-social intelligences’. Lumley himself is a bibliophile, with his library described thus: ‘the rows of tall volumes in vellum and morocco lined the walls like some rich tapestry’ (pp.209-210). In this shocker, Leithen, with the help of a Labour MP, eventually thwarts the group and upholds civilisation.



Octavo-in-16s. (Faint toning confined to endpapers, some occasional faint scattered spotting as usual due to the paper stock used.) Original red cloth, front and spine lettered in black (a fine copy with only the faintest of fading to extremity of foot of spine); original dust-jacket with pictorial front cover after Trotter with title printed in white and author’s name in pink on a black ground, circular price of '1/- NET' in white on red, this repeated on spine, the quotation on front cover, spine, rear cover and flaps all lettered in blue (spine of dust-jacket slightly soiled, tops of flaps faintly dust-soiled, some light spotting to rear cover and flap, some minor marginal nicks with associated losses, the worst being a 13mm tear into publisher’s imprint at foot of spine and two very small losses to black ground on front cover); custom morocco-backed cloth box.

Place of origin:Northern Europe, Europe, United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

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