London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1967. First edition. 157pp; b&w photo-illus. Black paper over boards, green quarter-cloth; light green topstain; dust jacket. Spine ends softened; minor bumping to board corners. Unclipped jacket with moderate edgewear and several closed tears. Very good in an about very good jacket. Signed and inscribed by Berger to title page, and with additional non-authorial gift inscription opposite.
Inscribed first edition of this celebrated early work by English critic and novelist John Berger (1926-2017); a sociological portrait of a general practitioner working in the English countryside, accompanied throughout by black-and-white photographs by Swiss photographer Jean Mohr (1925-2018); a work heralded The Guardian in 2015 as "a masterpiece of witness: a moving meditation on humanity, society and the value of healing." The inscription, in Berger's hand, is dated "April '90" and signed from "John and Nella"—presumably French writer and actress Nella Bielski, with whom Berger collaborated on several works, including the 1989 play Goya's Last Portrait.
