The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul first edition 1957

London: Andre Deutsch, 1957 
 
Small 8vo., burnt orange boards, lettered in gilt to backstrip with publisher’s device to foot; together in the vibrant pictorial dustwrapper featuring an image by Robert Micklewright, and a black and white photograph of the author to the lower flap; pp. [X], 7-215, [i]; a clean, bright copy, ever-so-slightly bruised to spine tips, and lightly spotted to outer edges of the text block; some very faint stains to endpapers, but otherwise very good in like jacket retaining much of its original colour, touched by sun at the backstrip and with some very light spotting to lower panel; a little rubbed at extremities and creased along folds, but in far superior condition to those often found. 
 
First UK edition. A satirical novel set in colonial Trinidad. 
 
Naipaul was born in Trinidad and educated at Oxford, where he first began to write.  It was not until the 1950s, however, that he published his first book, Miguel Street, a collection of short stories based on the experiences of a neighbour he had known as a child while growing up in Trindad’s capital, Port of Spain. What followed was a prolific period of writing in which, encouraged by the publishers as well as editor Diana Athill, he began to write longer works. The Mystic Masseur was his first full-length published work, and one of several books written between 1955 and 1958 which saw him concentrate predominantly on the subject of Trinidad. At the time of publication, Naipaul was still shy of his 25th birthday. 
 
The novel is semi-autobiographical and describes Ganesh Ramsumair, a frustrated Trinidadian writer and schoolteacher of Indian descent who overcomes poverty by becoming a religious healer, curing diseases through the power of massage. The protagonist goes on to become a revered politician and thriving entrepreneur, with his ascent to wealth and fame aided by a series of eccentric characters which include his wife, her father, and an aunt whom they refer to as The Great Belcher, as well as the patients themselves, whose ailments vary from malign clouds to an amorous fascination with bicycles. The book was the first of Naipaul’s to be filmed, with the adaptation released in 2001 to lukewarm reviews.  
 
A wonderful example of this humorous and evocative debut novel.