London: Andre Deutsch, 1957. First Edition. 215pp. Hardcover: VERY GOOD. Dust Wrapper: VERY GOOD. Boards are bright, very little cocking to the spine, and a couple of faint splotches. There is a non-signed bookplate on the front flyleaf. The attractive, non-clipped dust wrapper still retains its brilliance, with a slightly sunbathed spine.

First edition of the author's important first book, which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. It is a satirical novel set in the Indian community of Trinidad and Tobago and tells the story of the rise and fall of Ganesh Rumsumair, who wins a reputation as a guru on false pretenses. Awarded the Booker Prize in 1971 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, Naipal was knighted in 1990.