Archie Hind : The Dear Green Place : Second Impression 1967

The Dear Green Place

By Archie Hind

Published by New Author Limited, 1967. Second Impressiion. Hardback in original dust jacket. 8vo. pp. 229, [2] publisher's catalogue. English text.

CONDITION
A good copy of the second impression. The dust jacket remains unclipped and in good condition with just rubbing to the corners and spine ends. The cloth binding is very good. Endpapers good. All contents present and pages clean throughout. No writing or names.

Archie Hind (Born Archibald Hind Jr., 3 June 1928 – 21 February 2008), was a Scottish novelist and playwright and was the author of the novel The Dear Green Place. 

The Dear Green Place, published in 1966, was his only completed work, but it won four major awards and has been listed as one of the best 100 Scottish novels of all time. The title refers to a colloquial nickname for Hind's birthplace and hometown of Glasgow.

Many references are made within the novel to Hind's wife, Eleanor, as the character 'Helen', as well as her parents John and Sonia Slane (née Zam), whose characters are portrayed in the story as well off, intellectual, and disapproving. Slane's family, the Zams, were Russian Jews who had fled political and religious persecution in Ukraine, arriving in Scotland between 1904 and 1912, and settling at first in Glasgow. The novel was largely biographical and many elements are true to actual events.

The success of the novel turned Hind from a trolleybus driver and former slaughterhouse worker into a successful and notable writer. He won 1966's Guardian First Book Award. Hind went on to publish journalistic articles and wrote several plays and theatrical revues, notably for Glasgow's Citizen's Theatre. 

(Desk, Lower Shelf)