A Universal History of Infamy

First edition in English. Tall 8vo. Pp. 146, [6 (blank)]. Quarter-bound black cloth over red cloth boards, lettered in gilt to spine; black endpapers. Jacket illustration by Irving Freeman (priced $6.95 to front flap). Translated from the Spanish by Norman Thomas di Giovanni. Author's first collection of short stories originally published in 1935 as Historia universal de la infamia by Editorial Tor – Colección Megáfono, in Buenos Aires. These "exercises in narrative prose" were revised by Borges for their 1954 re-release by Emecé Editores.

Moderate foxing to text block edges, a 1" closed tear to d/w at base of front panel, tiny chip to back panel, else Fine.

Fictionalized accounts of real criminals, mixing high seriousness with a wicked sense of fun. The sources are listed to the rear of the book, but Borges makes numerous alterations in the retelling, particularly to names and dates, so the accounts cannot be relied upon as historical. A profoundly influential landmark of Latin American literature, the present volume is responsible for the coining of the term "magical realism". Includes "Streetcorner Man," Borges's first short story. "The book that literally transformed the Spanish prose of the thirties and whose long echoes can still be heard in One Hundred Years of Solitude." –The New York Times Book Review