Bogota, Ediciones S.L.B., 1955. The first edition of the Nobel Prize winner's first book, a short novel later published in the U.S. as "Leaf Storm" in the collection Leaf Storm and Other Stories. Set in the fictional town of Macondo, where much of his later fiction also takes place, the book covers three boom-and-bust decades in the town's history, the "leaf storm" of the title referring to the human "trash" which is blown into town in prosperity and out at decline. The colophon indicates 4000 copies were printed, but the publisher's financial problems dictated that they were retrieved from the printer only as paid for and most copies are assumed to have been left unpaid-for and eventually either pulped or otherwise lost. The rarity of the book and Garcia Marquez's own statements -- he has been quoted as saying that prior to the success of One Hundred Years of Solitude none of his books had sold more than 700 copies -- support such a scenario. Foxing and acidification to both pages and covers; some minor creasing; stray pen mark to rear cover; about very good in self-wrappers. A scarce and important first book. [#018594] SOLD