DARKNESS AT NOON Translated by Daphne Hardy

First American edition, with "set up and printed" on copyright page. 8vo, publisher's original black cloth, the upper cover with "AK" in silver, the spine ruled and lettered in silver, supplied in a finely produced facsimile of the first edition dustjacket. [viii], 267pp. A very near to fine copy, the paper just a bit lightly toned but otherwise spotless and sturdy, the hinges solid, the black cloth bright and fine with fresh silver.

Edizione: koestler's masterpiece. darkness at noon is the tale of rubashov, an old bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the government that he had helped to create. the novel is set between 1938 and 1940, after the great purge and moscow show trials. despite being based on real events, the novel does not name either russia or the soviets, and tends to use generic terms to describe people and organizations.<br> in 1998, the modern library ranked darkness at noon as number eight on its list of the 100 best english-language novels of the 20th century, even though koestler originally wrote it in german.