The Unfortunate Traveller (With Illustrations and an Introduction by Michael Ayrton) (1948)

The Unfortunate Traveller was first published in 1594 and represents Thomas Nashe’s sole excursion into the novel form. The author of this strange and tormented book, which is at least in part autobiographical, chose as his model the popular Spanish tales such as Lazarillo de Tormes. Nashe enlarged the scope of that tradition to include not only a Rabelaisian humour, but also passages of lyrical beauty interspersed with episodes of violent savagery. The Unfortunate Traveller, as the first picaresque novel in the English language, was the forerunner of the work of not only Defoe and Fielding but also of James Joyce, who has acknowledged its profound influence upon his writing. 23cm x 15cm. With 15 Illustrations by Michael Ayrton. Condition: Tape repair to dust-wrapper’s front flap and to head of spine. Dust-wrapper a little tanned with some faint spotting. Slight touch of bubbling to cloth spine. Endpapers toned. Internally clean and bright.