"I PLANNED FOR MYSELF GREAT WORKS, A GREAT NAME AND FAME; BUT I FOUND IT HARD TO MAKE A START"

TREVOR, William. A Standard of Behaviour. London: Hutchinson of London, (1958). Octavo, original blue paper boards, original dust jacket. $900.

First edition of Trevor's disowned novel, preceding his official first novel.

Preceding the 1964 novel, The Old Boys, generally regarded as Trevor's first novel, A Standard of Behaviour (1958) was disowned by Trevor after publication and has been largely forgotten. Called a "wispy comedy of manners" by the New York Times, A Standard of Behaviour nevertheless deals with several themes common in Trevor's later work including boredom, idleness, wealth, and the difficulty of establishing meaningful relationships. Written during downtime while Trevor was (unsuccessfully) working as a copywriter at an advertising agency, A Standard of Behaviour offers valuable glimpses of the talented, award-winning writer that Trevor would one day become.

Book near-fine, with mild toning to extremities. Fragile dust jacket extremely good, with faint foxing and soiling, and light wear and toning to extremities. A desirable copy of a scarce work.