Walter Benjamin.
 
NLB: 1979. Octavo. Hardcover in a jacket. First NLB edition. Introduction by Susan Sontag. Orange boards with silver lettering. Back board ever so slightly bowed. Unclipped jacket is rubbed, with some of the laminate peeling off. The edges of the jacket are also a bit rubbed. Book is very good, unclipped jacket is on the upper end of good condition.
 
“The child seeks his way along the half-hidden paths. Reading, he covers his ears; the book is on a table that is far too high, and one hand is always on the page. To him, the hero’s adventures can still be read in the swirling letters like figures and messages in drifting snowflakes. His breath is part of the air of the events narrated, and all the participants breathe it. He mingles with the characters far more closely than grown-ups do. He is unspeakably touched by the deeds, the words that are exchanged; and, when he gets up, he is covered over and over by the snow of his reading.”