The Moneyman - first UK edition

by Thomas B. Costain

First UK edition of Costain's story of Jaques Coeur, the moneyman to King Charles VII of France.  Coeur was a merchant prince who worked his way up from a common birth to become the wealthiest private citizen of 15th century France by trading between France and the Levant.

The book has tan boards with the title stamped in gold on a black field on the spine; there is heraldry embossed in gold on the front board; end papers have a geometric patter; there is a very tiny loss of the top 1/16 edge of the rear end paper as if it had been stuck with to the board at one time; the book has no additional marks and is thus in near fine condition.

The jacket is in near fine condition, price intact at 9/6s; uses illustrations from the end papers of the US edition for the jacket; some darkening of spine and flap folds, very minimal spine sunning, thus near fine.

This is a really nice first UK edition, much nicer than either US edition I have.  Being a collector and reader of Costain, I snapped it up as soon as I saw it.  As a 16vo at 5"x71/2", it is smaller than the 8vo US edition.  The jacket art is great, however, and is something that I would have expected from the US publisher Doubleday instead of their disappointing somber blue jacket.