THE VICEROY OF OUIDAH

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original brown cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated endpapers. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh, with a little rubbing to the spine tips and extremities. The contents, with just a touch of spotting to the top edge of the closed text block, are clean throughout, and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed and creased, publisher's clipped and re-priced dustwrapper, which is otherwise without fading, loss or tears.

The author's first novel, loosely based on the historical Catholic Brazilian slave trader Francisco Félix de Sousa. Best known for his landmark travel book 'In Patagonia' (1977), award-winning travel writer and journalist Bruce Chatwin travelled to the People's Republic of Benin (formally recognised as Dahomey, now modern-day Benin) to conduct research for the novel in December 1976. However, his presence in the country was not welcome, and he was accused of being a mercenary during the violent Benin coup d'état attempt in January 1977, and was detained for three days. Chatwin relocated to Brazil upon his release, but found little documented information on de Sousa, unhappily settling on a fictionalised biography. It formed the basis for the 1987 Werner Herzog-directed film 'Cobra Verde', starring Klaus Kinski in his fifth and final collaboration with Herzog.