Geoff Dyer, writing in the Guardian in 2006, called the book “one of the supreme masterpieces of the 20th century”' (Thomas Snyder in Los Angeles Review of Books, July 12, 2017, online). Until recently, this was not an extraordinary assertion to make.

'In 2000, the Modern Library listed Rebecca West’s Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, published in 1941, among the 20th century’s greatest works of nonfiction. BLACK LAMB AND GREY FALCON: The Record of a Journey through Yugoslavia in 1937 - Volumes I & II (A complete set - sixth printing in dustwrappers).

Most of the set deals with Serbia and territories claimed by and surrounding the country. The importance of the developments in Yugoslavia during the Second World War made this book essential reading for military strategists and operatives, such as Churchill and Fitzroy Maclean. West's classic account was simultaneously issued in the United States and in the UK in February 1942, and reprints of this edition followed in February and June of that year. This study enjoyed renewed currency during the Yugoslav conflicts at the turn to the twenty-first century' (ODNB). West was employed by the British Council to lecture in the Baltic States and then Yugoslavia in the late 1930s, and, although 'she endured sexual harassment and serious illness in Yugoslavia, West returned twice to collect material for Black Lamb and Grey Falcon her account of Yugoslav culture under threat of eradication by Germany, which for many is her most notable work. Second printing of the second edition in this format. xi, 653, vii, 586, 16 plates with illustrations recto-and-verso light wear to edges of wrappers, these a little marked and with darkened spines, otherwise a very attractive set. Original green cloth, upper boards with blind-ruled borders, spines lettered in gilt, map endpapers after Bip Pares printed in red and black, top edges green, original dust-wrappers with price of 42 shillings preserved pp. The Record of a Journey through Yugoslavia in 1937.

Rebecca west yugoslavia