THE HARD LIFE. An Exegesis of Squalor.

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original red and black cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in the Sean O'Sullivan illustrated dustwrapper. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm with some bumping to the spine tips, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, with an ink inscription to the front free endpaper and a couple of isolated spots to the top edge of the closed text block, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the lightly rubbed, toned and creased, price-clipped dustwrapper, that is otherwise remains without loss or tears.

The author's third novel to be published within his lifetime, and his fourth novel overall. A satire set in turn-of-the-century Dublin, a critique of the Roman Catholic Church (despite the author's Catholic background), squalid living conditions in Ireland, and the development of Irish identity. In his letters to editor Timothy O'Keeffe, O'Brien confidently expressed that the unflattering portrayals of Catholic figures would lead to the book's censorship and that he expected to face several legal challenges, yet ultimately none were put to him. The novel was immediately successful, selling out in Dublin in just 48 hours, and drew comparison to James Joyce's 'Dubliners', 1914 and 'A Portrait of the Artist'. (Clissmann, Anne: Flann O'Brien: A Critical Introduction to His Writings, 1975, Gill and Macmillan, pp. 269-71).