SHAW, George Bernard

Irrational Knot, The

London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1905. Item #06614

A Probable Priority State of Shaw’s Second Novel
With a Pre-Publication Autograph Note Discussing The Irrational Knot

SHAW, George Bernard. The Irrational Knot. Being the Second Novel of His Nonage. London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1905.

First edition in book form, English issue, comprising imported sheets of the first American edition (New York:Brentano’s, 1905) with cancel title-leaf.

Octavo (7 5/8 x 5 1/8 inches; 192 x 131 mm.). xxvi, 422, [2, blank] pp.

A Bibliographically Significant Variant — Likely Preceding the Standard English Issue. This copy represents a transitional and likely priority state of the English issue (cf. Laurence A68b), combining features of both the American and English forms: Cancel title-leaf with English publisher’s imprint; Copyright notice on verso (“Published September, 1905”); Without the Schlueter Printing Company imprint on the verso of the title-page. Retaining: Advertisement of Shaw’s works on p. [ii]; Caption “Preface to the American Edition of 1905” on pp. [v] and vii.

Crucially, the volume is preserved in the original American issue blue cloth binding, with “Brentano’s” at the foot of the spine.

Taken together, these points strongly suggest an early assembly of the English issue from imported sheets- very possibly preceding the fully regularized Constable issue described by Laurence.

Publisher’s original American issue blue cloth, front cover lettered in gilt and stamped in gilt with a floral vignette within a blind rule border, spine lettered in gilt (with “Brentano’s” at foot). Top edge trimmed, others uncut.
Light wear to extremities, spine slightly cocked, rear hinge split. Mild dampstain to upper margin of first few leaves; closed tear (approx. 1 inch) to upper margin of pp. 393/394. A very good copy.

[Together with:]

Autograph Note Signed by George Bernard Shaw, dated 1 March 1904, on headed notepaper from 10 Adelphi Terrace, W.C. “…‘The Irrational Knot,’ youthful novel of mine… published as a serial in an extinct magazine called Our Corner… and has never been reprinted… No doubt it will be, some day…”

Written eighteen months prior to publication, this note captures Shaw’s own contemporary assessment of the work before its first appearance in book form - an unusually direct and desirable conjunction of manuscript and printed history.

Originally composed in 1880 and serialized in Our Corner (1885–87), The Irrational Knot remained unpublished in book form until 1905. By that time, Shaw had already achieved distinction as a dramatist, and the novel stands as an early exploration of themes—marriage, class tension, and social critique - that would later define his mature work.

Laurence A68b.

Price: $950.00