London: Cassell and Company, 1947. [American Literature] FIRST UK EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.644. Publisher's dark grey cloth with gilt titles to spine. Some toning and spotting to edges; offsetting also to endpapers. Light spotting to first and final leaves, with a few poorly opened. Light wear to cloth. Very good. A important modern American novel, which articulates a passionate defence of individualism and ambition: "When I look at the ocean, I feel the greatness of man, I think of man's magnificent capacity that created this ship to conquer all that senseless space. When I look at mountain peaks, I think of tunnels and dynamite. When I look at the planets, I think of airplanes." First published in the US in 1943.