A Severed Head.

MURDOCH, Iris.

Item Number: 118629

London: Chatto & Windus, 1961.

First edition of the author’s fifth novel which was a harbinger of the sexual revolution that was to hit Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Sally with all my best wishes Iris Murdoch.” The recipient, British photojournalist Sally Soames, worked for The Sunday Times from 1968 until 2000 and was highly regarded for her exclusively black and white portraits of many of the most prominent figures of the 20th century including Menachem Begin, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Connery, Rudolf Nureyev, Alec Guinness and Andy Warhol. Soames, who was known to be a warm and personal journalist, performed extensive research on her subjects and developed intimate rapports with them during her process, resulting in striking and revealing portraits. In addition to the several world leaders Soames came to know and photograph, she captured the unique personalities of some of the world’s most gifted authors, poets, and playwrights. She published two books of photographs during her lifetime: Manpower (1987) with text by Robin Morgan and an introduction by Harold Evans and Writers (1995) with a preface by Norman Mailer. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by John Woodcock.

“In my late teens, A Severed Head and The Bell opened my eyes to another world. I took them as a rather elegant form of social realism, and I loved the new world they opened up to me" (Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement). It was adapted for the stage in 1963 and was later made into the film of the same name starring Claire Bloom, Lee Remick, Richard Attenborough, and Ian Holm.