MODERN NATURE: The Journals of Derek Jarman.

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Original dark blue cloth lettered in white to the spine, in the dustwrapper designed by the Senate. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout, the top edge of the page block a little dusty. In the very near fine dustwrapper, the gilt lettering on the spine a little worn, the red pigment there also a touch faded. Not price-clipped (£16.99 to the front flap). Loosely laid in to this copy is a beautifully printed flyer for Ian Shipley's now defunct, and much missed, Art bookshop on Charing Cross Rd. Shipley (briefly mentioned in the book on p. 208) was a friend of Jarman, who would often pop in to sign copies of his books. An attractive copy. Uncommon signed.

Signed by Derek Jarman in blue ink on the front free endpaper. In 1987, shortly after discovering he was HIV positive, Jarman bought a cottage (in the shadow of a nuclear power station) on the Dungeness coast. Moving between Kent and London, where Jarman had kept his small Charing Cross Road flat, these beautifully written journals, beginning in January 1989 and ending in September the following year, document his life at the cottage: among much else, the creation of his extraordinary garden in the shingle around the cottage, the filming of 'The Garden' (1990) and early stages of the adaptation of Marlowe's 'Edward II', as well as a remarkable section recording a stay at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington after having contracted tuberculosis. Early in the diary, Jarman writes of "describing the [Dungeness] garden to Maggi Hambling at a gallery opening. [I] said I intended to write a book about it. She said: 'Oh, you've finally discovered nature, Derek.' 'I don't think it's really quite like that,' I said, thinking of Constable and Samuel Palmer's Kent'. 'Ah, I understand completely. You've discovered modern nature'". An heir to the great tradition of published English diaries and nature writing (Dorothy Wordsworth, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gilbert White, Denton Welch) and now a modern classic, 'Modern Nature' offers a unique insight into the precarious life of a gay, HIV positive man and artist living in England during the late, dark days of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as prime minister. Provenance: From the library of Richard Salmon, gallerist, friend, and sole dealer of Jarman's paintings and sculptures.