The Atom of Delight
First Edition:
The Atom of Delight | [ornament] | NEIL M. GUNN | [space] | FABER AND FABER LIMITED | 24 Russell Square | London
Collation:
[A] (8), B - I (8), No J, K - T (8), 152 leaves.
p. [1] THE ATOM OF DELIGHT; p. [2] By the same author; p. [3] Title page; p. [4] [ital] Publisher's and Printer's notices: First published in MCMLVI; pp. 5 - 6 Contents; pp. 7 - 304 Text.
5" x 7 1/2". Bound in plum cloth, spine stamped in gold:
THE | ATOM | OF | DELIGHT | [ornament] | NEIL | GUNN | [space] | Faber
Other Editions:
Polygon | Edinburgh | 1986 (With an introduction by J.B.Pick and a foreword by Dairmid Gunn)
A later edition of the above (1989) also contained an afterword "Highland Zen" by Alan Spence.
An extract from the book was dramatised for radio and broadcast as "The Boy and the Salmon", 30th. May 1957.
An extract comprising part of p. 104 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 15. (This quotation was incorrectly attributed to "Morning Tide".
An extract comprising part of p. 114 appeared in: Glimpses of Gunn | Ann Yule and Alan Haldane | Neil M. Gunn Memorial Trust | Dingwall | 1990 | p. 15.
Notes:
The typescript of this book, together with two corrected page proofs, is held at the National Library of Scotland.
This is Gunn's spiritual autobiography and the themes are continued in a series of essays which appeared in "The Saltire Review" 1958 - 1961 and in "Point" in 1968 - 1969.
The B.B.C. programme "Talking about Landscape", broadcast 28th. June 1959, was a conversation between Gunn and George Bruce on the same themes as those contained in the Saltire Review" and "Point" essays.
Extracts also appeared in "The Glasgow Herald" immediately prior to publication as under:
1) Off and Away, 22nd. September 1956, p. 3.
2) Trees in Church, 29th. September 1956, p. 3.
3) The Family Cow, 6th. October 1956, p. 3.
4) The Boy in London, 13th. October 1956, p. 3.
This book was remaindered, 21st. December 1959, when the entire remaining stock of 128 bound copies and 2550 sets of sheets (out of an original print run of 5050 sets) were sold to "Books for Pleasure". They were then issued, in a dustwrapper identical to the original, bound in green paper substitute, with the spine,stamped in black:
THE | ATOM | OF | DELIGHT | NEIL | GUNN | [space] | FABER
Apart from the binding there is no difference to the edition issued by Faber.