Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry - Numbered Edition

One of the greatest novels of the 20th century, Under the Volcano is Malcolm Lowry's powerful and lyrical statement on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man's constant struggle against the forces that threaten to destroy him. 

Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's life—the Day of the Dead, 1938—his wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. She is determined to rescue Firmin and their failing marriage, but her mission is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one significant day unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.

First conceived during Malcolm Lowry’s turbulent years in Mexico, the earliest manuscript for Under the Volcano faced repeated rejection before Lowry devoted himself entirely to four years of rewrites between 1940 and 1944. The work was then nearly lost in a devastating fire at the Lowry's cabin in Dollarton before being completed. Lowry's second wife, Margerie Bonner, rescued the unfinished novel, but all of Lowry's other works in progress were lost in the blaze.

The novel was finished in 1945, and ultimately published in 1947 in both the United States and the United Kingdom after Lowry’s impassioned defense of its form and intent. When UK publisher Jonathan Cape expressed his reservations about publishing it without further edits, Lowry responded: "Whether it sells or not seems to me either way a risk. But there is something about the destiny of the creation of the book that seems to tell me it just might go on selling a very long time."

The book was met with a modest initial reception, and fell out of print before Lowry's death in 1957. Since then, the novel has risen to canonical status, ranked among the greatest works of the twentieth century by the Modern Library and included in Time’s list of the 100 best English-language novels. Alfred Kazin hailed it as “Lowry’s masterpiece… one of the ten most consequential works of fiction produced in this century,” while the The New York Times described it as “one of the towering novels of this century.” 

Few novels descend so completely into the fragile, flickering consciousness of a man unraveling as Under the Volcano, where Malcolm Lowry transforms a single day into an odyssey of memory, regret, and quiet, inescapable ruin.

The limited edition of Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry is presented in two states: Numbered Edition and Lettered Edition.

NUMBERED EDITION

• 6” x 9” trim size.
• Limited to 250 copies.
• Signed by Michael Schmidt, Chris Ackerley, and Sara Tyson.
• Seven color illustrations by Sara Tyson.
• Handbound Bradel binding with printed cloth-covered boards and a cloth spine.
• Covers feature an illustration by Sara Tyson spanning both boards.
• Spine adorned with a foil-blocked Bugra label.
• Text set in Linotype Aldus with Michelangelo for display, both designed by Hermann Zapf; edition designed by Jason Dewinetz.
• Endsheets are Hahnemühle Bugra.
• Text printed by offset lithography on Mohawk Via Laid paper.
• Housed in a cloth-covered clamshell enclosure with velour-lined trays.
• Includes an introduction by Michael Schmidt and an afterword by Chris Ackerley.
• Bookmark with all pre-orders.

Published editions may differ slightly from mockups and prototype designs.
Illustrations © 2024 by Sara Tyson