The World Of Charmian Clift
Australian Literature Biography Women's Studies Art & Culture Collectible Antiquarian Literary Memoir Mid-Century History
The World of Charmian Clift (Ure Smith, 1970) is a scarce first-edition hardcover that doubles as both biography and moving cultural portrait of one of Australia’s most luminous mid-century writers. George Johnston—Clift’s husband and fellow novelist—channels intimate memories, diary excerpts, and his own journalistic eye into 255 richly illustrated pages that trace Charmian’s journey from Greek-island bohemian to magnetic literary figure. Martin Johnston’s line drawings weave through the text, giving readers the feel of a private sketchbook rather than a conventional memoir, a feature that makes this volume prized by collectors of Australian art-and-literature crossovers.
Why seekers snap it up: outside of national archives, first-printing copies in original dust jacket are seldom seen, especially ones with clean, unmarked interiors and the store sticker that whispers of 1970s Sydney bookshop life. The binding is tight, pages are free of foxing and dog-ears, and the jacket—while showing light edge-chipping—still displays the evocative turquoise-and-white design that instantly signals “vintage Ure Smith” on a shelf. For enthusiasts of Australiana, women’s literary history, or 20th-century expatriate culture, this is the copy that completes a collection.
Young adults discovering Clift through contemporary reissues will find here the raw source material: Hydra island parties, literary sparring with Leonard Cohen, and the fierce creative partnership between the Johnstons. Adult readers and scholars value the unfiltered anecdotes that later biographies paraphrase, making this first edition the closest thing to hearing Charmian’s voice in the room. A tangible slice of 1970s publishing craft, it is equally at home under a reading lamp or in a climate-controlled bookcase—an enduring tribute to the woman who helped redefine Australian identity on the global page.
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