The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch [below] won the Booker Prize in 1978.

This hardback first edition, signed by the author, also features an inscription. Published by Chatto & Windus in 1978, the inscription is to Martyn Goff, administrator of the Booker Prize from the early 1970-2005. The distinctive cover features ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai.

The story
Charles Arrowby withdraws from society to the seaside to write his memoir. There, he meets again his first love Mary Hartley Fitch. Again, he idolizes her and tries to persuade her to elope with him. When she won’t, he tries to kidnap her. This is a tale of obsession and arrogance

To read the opening paragraph of The Sea The Sea, click here.

The film The film Iris was released in 2001. Murdoch was played in youth and old age by Kate Winslet and Judi Dench, her husband John Bayley was played by Hugh Bonneville and Jim Broadbent. About their lifelong romance and then the sad descent of Iris into dementia. Watch the official trailer here.

The current UK edition Still in print as a Vintage Classic edition, this is the current cover. Buy at Amazon

Other editions My Triad Granada edition [above] features on its cover a detail of a painting, ‘The Sea-Birds Domain’ by Peter Graham, which can be seen in Manchester Art Gallery. It is dated inside in my handwriting as being bought in 1984.

Editions around the world of this book feature beautiful cover designs from Korea, Spain and China.

‘The Sea The Sea’ by Iris Murdoch [UK: Vintage] Buy at Amazon

If you like old books, check out these:-
‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkein
‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ by John Fowles
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
First Edition: THE SEA THE SEA by Iris Murdoch #oldbooks via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2rc