The Railway Game: An Early Autobiography By Clifford Dyment
The Railway Game: An Early Autobiography (Collectible Readers Union Edition)
A Poet's Vivid, Sensitive Chronicle of a 1920s Railway-Side Childhood
A Poet's Vivid, Sensitive Chronicle of a 1920s Railway-Side Childhood
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: The Railway Game: An Early Autobiography
- Author: Clifford Dyment
- Publisher: Readers Union Ltd (by arrangement with J.M. Dent & Sons), London
- Publication Date: 1963
- ISBN-10: None issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
- Edition Details: Official Readers Union Hardcover Edition. Early biographical work.
- Binding: Hardcover with original publisher's cloth boards, housed in the original illustrated dust jacket under a protective archive cellophane wrapper.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 218 pages.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Boards: The original publisher's cloth boards are clean, firm, and uniform across all edges. The spine is completely straight, robust, tightly bound, and remains structurally undamaged with bright lettering.
- Interior: Superbly preserved and structurally crisp. The text block is completely clean, intact, and unmarked. Free from previous owner names, gift inscriptions, or dealer pencil notations. Shows uniform, natural age-related browning and paper tanning across all pages, entirely consistent with the specific post-war British paper stock utilized by the Readers Union in the 1963 printings.
- Protection: This literary volume has been well maintained and looked after thus far, now beautifully preserved in a professional, removable archival cellophane sleeve.
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The Dust Jacket: Used – Very Good (VG)
- Condition: The original illustrated dust jacket is complete and unclipped. It exhibits some typical, limited signs of vintage storage-related edge wear, light rubbing, and small surface stress lines along the head and tail of the spine. It is free from large chips or deep tears and presents beautifully behind its protective archival cellophane cover.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1963 by the Readers Union, The Railway Game is a deeply moving, lyrical autobiography that captures the childhood of acclaimed British poet Clifford Dyment in provincial England during the 1920s and 1930s. Moving beyond standard historical reporting, Dyment views his early life through the artistic lens of a poet, displaying an uncanny, haunting memory for sensory details—capturing the exact sights, industrial sounds, and raw smells of an era defined by steam transport. To young Dyment, the railway running alongside his world was not merely steel and coal, but a symbolic door to the broader world, an escape route from provincial isolation, and an engine of romantic imagination. Written with an almost unfailing choice of perfect imagery, this vivid narrative stands as a beautiful literary time-capsule of interwar British working-class life and is a highly prized addition for collectors of mid-century biographical literature and railway-related memoirs.
Published in 1963 by the Readers Union, The Railway Game is a deeply moving, lyrical autobiography that captures the childhood of acclaimed British poet Clifford Dyment in provincial England during the 1920s and 1930s. Moving beyond standard historical reporting, Dyment views his early life through the artistic lens of a poet, displaying an uncanny, haunting memory for sensory details—capturing the exact sights, industrial sounds, and raw smells of an era defined by steam transport. To young Dyment, the railway running alongside his world was not merely steel and coal, but a symbolic door to the broader world, an escape route from provincial isolation, and an engine of romantic imagination. Written with an almost unfailing choice of perfect imagery, this vivid narrative stands as a beautiful literary time-capsule of interwar British working-class life and is a highly prized addition for collectors of mid-century biographical literature and railway-related memoirs.
Author Profile: Clifford Dyment
Clifford Dyment (1914–1971) was a highly distinguished British poet, literary critic, and documentary film scriptwriter who rose to prominence during the mid-20th century. Celebrated for his sharp clarity of vision, deep empathy for the natural and industrial world, and accessible verse, his poetry was regularly anthologized and praised by contemporaries such as Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot. His autobiographical and prose works are widely sought-after by book collectors for their exceptional prose styling, intense observational detail, and masterful handling of nostalgic themes.
Clifford Dyment (1914–1971) was a highly distinguished British poet, literary critic, and documentary film scriptwriter who rose to prominence during the mid-20th century. Celebrated for his sharp clarity of vision, deep empathy for the natural and industrial world, and accessible verse, his poetry was regularly anthologized and praised by contemporaries such as Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot. His autobiographical and prose works are widely sought-after by book collectors for their exceptional prose styling, intense observational detail, and masterful handling of nostalgic themes.
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