BORGES, Jorge Luis. El Aleph. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, S.A., 1952. Second edition, signed and inscribed by Jorge Luis Borges, 8vo (201 x 132mm.) Title in red and black. (Mild toning, some uncut leaves.) Original olive wrappers (slightly bumped extremities). Note: the inscription reads: ‘A la senora Leadbitter, con admiración y amistad, Jorge Luis Borges, Buenos Aires, 1955’. Anna-Lisa Leadbitter was the wife of the British consul to Argentina in the 1950’s, Jasper Leadbitter. ‘El Aleph’ was Borges’ second and widely acclaimed collection of stories. It has a postscript and four stories not included in the first edition of 1949. By 1952, despite the advances in ophthalmology, Borges had become totally blind. This shows in the hesitancy and scratchiness of the pen in his inscription. In 1955 he was appointed director of the Biblioteca Nacional in Buenos Aires and he accepted the appointment with marked stoicism: ‘I speak of God’s splendid irony in granting me at one time 800,000 books and darkness’.