First Jonathan Cape edition of The Favourite Game by Leonard Cohen (1970)

Second printing

Medium format hardback in VG++ condition. The jacket has some minor shelf wear including chipping to extremities, now in removable protective sleeve. Age toning and minor foxing to the page block, age toning to the pages. No other markings, pages clean and binding firm. 

The Favourite Game

Cohen's first novel is a heavily autobiographical "portrait of the artist as a young man" growing up in Montreal. Much of the novel is very sympathetic to the protagonist, Breavman, presenting his perceptions of the world in virtuoso passages of romantic writing; yet there is also a strong element of irony, which stands back from Breavman and offers a severe judgment on the limitations of his human relations (especially to women). In the end, the indulgence wins out over the irony, but it's a close call.