New York: The Fountain Press, 1930. FIRST US SIGNED LIMITED EDITION, copy no. 636 of 840, hand-numbered on limitation page, signed by the author to the half-title page. Cloth-bound; hardcover; octavo (23.5 x 15 x 3 cm); pp. Bound in publisher’s black cloth; unevenly cut fore edge and bottom edge. Binding tight and secure. Covers and contents well-preserved, with some very light toning to the front endpaper. Notes: First edition and signed limited edition of Huxley’s fifth collection of short fiction. Nicely signed by Aldous Huxley in black ink on the half-title page. Brief Candles contains four short stories: Chawdron, The Rest Cure, The Claxtons, and After the Fireworks. The work takes its title from a line in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Please view my other rare books.