Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Guignol's Band. Bernard Frechtman & Jack T. Nile [translators]. Vision Press Limited. 1954. >>1st state risqué dust-jacket<<

U.K. first edition. 256 printed pages. Printed by G.T. Wray Limited, Great Britain. 

225 x 145 mm. Original terracotta cloth, lettered in gilt to the spine. Original pink and black dust-jacket of a man in a beret and crew neck sweater, grasping a woman wearing a bra, fishnet stockings, suspenders and a split skirt, around her waist - designed by Wendy Des Moulins. Two minor old marks from tape residue on paste-down endpapers and similarly on the cloth covers. 

This first state example predates the far more common second state black, brown and yellow lithographed dust jacket, The first state dust jacket is , with significantly broader flaps and a less vibrant but much more risqué design. The blurb to the front flap also contains the word "loving" and the final four words: "their desire-driven destinies." - omitted in the 2nd state. There are also changes to the titles listed to the rear flap, on the earlier jacket 'The Broken Gate' is: "A passionate love story." whereas on the later one it is: "A novel of French Indo-China", several titles are noted at higher prices, indicating earlier impressions and suggesting that this jacket was printed some months before the later one. Presents beautifully. Extremely uncommon in such condition.

Céline's teetering reputation has long been at risk of having his significant literary influence overshadowed by his hateful and unacceptable anti-semitism - sentiments that wer expressed in more than one pamphlet he later wrote.