The Last of England Signed by Derek Jarman first edition 1987

JARMAN, Derek; [David L. HIRST, Ed.]
London: Constable, 1987
 
Large 8vo., black publisher’s boards, lettered vertically in silver to backstrip; together in the photographic dustwrapper taken on location during filming by Mike Laye (£19.95 net); pp. [X], 9-247, [vii]; proliferated throughout with black and white photographs from the author’s own personal archive; a near-fine copy, slightly toned to the edges of the text block; a couple of dinks to edges of boards; two pen scratches to the lower edge; the near-fine jacket with just a hint of creasing to the edges, and one small abrasion to the lower panel.  
 
First edition, inscribed by the author to the front free endpaper. The recipient is John Timlin, a theatre producer and literary agent. This copy together with an original photograph featuring a still from the film by Mike Laye. 
 
The Last of England was an 1897 arthouse film which starred Tilda Swinton in the leading role. It was Jarman’s intention to portray his dismay at the loss of British Culture, particularly so in the wake of Thatcher’s government, and the Section 28 Local Government act, which sought to prohibit the "promotion of homosexuality". Jarman (1942-1994) was, among his many accolades, an artist, film maker, writer and gay rights activist who spoke openly about his own personal struggle with AIDS. The Last of England portrayed a country ravaged by its own internal decay, with one reviewer writing that the film was “one of the few commanding works of personal cinema in the late 80's – a call to open our eyes to a world violated by greed and repression, to see what irrevocable damage has been wrought on city, countryside and soul, how our skies, our bodies, have turned poisonous" (Village Voice). 
 
Jarman began writing the accompanying book in an attempt to explain his own personal journey towards the production, with the published work containing journal entries, interviews and notes for the completed script, as well as numerous black and white photographs.  One particularly striking image (seen here on page 246) sees Swinton mourning the loss of her executed husband, dancing on a beach as a fire burns behind her: “she moves into the eye of a storm”, Jarman writes, “I can feel the audience flattened against their seats; if someone dropped a sweet wrapper it would take off and swirl around the room”. The title is taken directly from an original painting by Ford Madox Brown which sees “those neat emigrés setting off for a new life in the new world” (p.245). 
 
Upon release, Time Out wrote of the film: “What proof do you need of the world's curling up like an autumn leaf?” 
 
Scarce with these attributes.