Vermilion Sands -
J. G. Ballard
1973 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
First edition of this short story collection, all set in Vermilion Sands, 'a fully automated desert-resort designed to fulfil the most exotic whims of the idle rich, but now languishing in uneasy decay, populated only by forgotten movie queens, solitary impresarios and the remittance men of the artistic and literary world. It is a lair for beachcombers, hangers-on and malignant obsessions – a place where sensitive pigments paint portraits of their mistresses in a grotesque parody of art; where prima donna plants are programmed to sing operatic arias; where dial-a-poem computers have replaced poets; where psychosensitive houses are driven to murder by their owners' neuroses; and where love and lust, in the hands of jewel-eyed Jezebels, pall before the stronger pull of evil.'
'No one ever comes to Vermilion Sands now, and I suppose there are few people who have ever heard of it. But ten years ago, when Fay and I first went to live at 99 Stellavista, just before our marriage broke up, the colony was still remembered as the one-time playground of movie stars, delinquent heiresses and eccentric cosmopolites in those fabulous years before the Recess. Admittedly most of the abstract villas and fake palazzos were empty, their huge gardens overgrown, two-level swimming pools long drained, and the whole place was degenerating like an abandoned amusement park, but there was enough bizarre extravagance in the air to make one realize that the giants had only just departed’ Provenance: Review copy, with reviewers slip loosely laid in, announcing the publication date as 29 November, 1973.
First published as a paperback in 1971, but without the short story ‘The Singing Statues’ which was added to this the first hardback edition.
A ‘collection of stories first published in magazines between 1956 and 1970 ‘about a decaying artists' colony in the near future, set against surrealistic desert landscapes. With their motifs of singing flowers and statues, living clothes, cloud-sculpting and psychotropic houses, the tale are not conventionally linked, and have differing characters. All marvelously original, with unforgettable imagery. One of Ballard's most brilliant books ...’ - [Pringle]
Reference: Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1995), 401. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction (2004), II-69.
Octavo (book size 20.4x13.7cm ), pp. 208. In publisher’s light blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge with publisher’s light red stain. Dust jacket priced ‘£2.25 net. In UK only’ to lower corner of front flap. Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket. Ref: 112618 Price: HK$ 15,000
'No one ever comes to Vermilion Sands now, and I suppose there are few people who have ever heard of it. But ten years ago, when Fay and I first went to live at 99 Stellavista, just before our marriage broke up, the colony was still remembered as the one-time playground of movie stars, delinquent heiresses and eccentric cosmopolites in those fabulous years before the Recess. Admittedly most of the abstract villas and fake palazzos were empty, their huge gardens overgrown, two-level swimming pools long drained, and the whole place was degenerating like an abandoned amusement park, but there was enough bizarre extravagance in the air to make one realize that the giants had only just departed’ Provenance: Review copy, with reviewers slip loosely laid in, announcing the publication date as 29 November, 1973.
First published as a paperback in 1971, but without the short story ‘The Singing Statues’ which was added to this the first hardback edition.
A ‘collection of stories first published in magazines between 1956 and 1970 ‘about a decaying artists' colony in the near future, set against surrealistic desert landscapes. With their motifs of singing flowers and statues, living clothes, cloud-sculpting and psychotropic houses, the tale are not conventionally linked, and have differing characters. All marvelously original, with unforgettable imagery. One of Ballard's most brilliant books ...’ - [Pringle]
Reference: Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction (1995), 401. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction (2004), II-69.
Octavo (book size 20.4x13.7cm ), pp. 208. In publisher’s light blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge with publisher’s light red stain. Dust jacket priced ‘£2.25 net. In UK only’ to lower corner of front flap. Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket. Ref: 112618 Price: HK$ 15,000