Some foxing; one jacket with tear and loss to spine and upper fore-corner; another with chip from head of spine, some general rubbing and minor marking.
Plates.
£250
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1933-34.
First editions, first impressions. 4 vol. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jackets.
In this four-volume set, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George provides a comprehensive account of World War I from his perspective. He offers insights into political decisions, military strategies, and international relations, shedding light on the complexities of the war and its aftermath.
In stock
Some foxing; one jacket with tear and loss to spine and upper fore-corner; another with chip from head of spine, some general rubbing and minor marking.
Plates.
2 vols.
London, Heinemann, 1937-54.
First editions, first impressions. Second volume initialled presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jackets. Accompanied by a press/agency photographic print of Coward and two friends.
Noël Coward's two-volume autobiography, carrying his life-story up until 1945; the work was a considerable success. The second volume is inscribed & initialled on the title-page by the author to the actress Joyce Carey, 'For Doycie with love love love N':
"In his accustomed manner, Coward redubbed Carey 'Joycie' - or even, in moments of sheer baby-talk, 'Doycie'. The relationship was very old-fashioned, in one sense: Carey was the lady on his arm at premieres, providing the heterosexual bluff that was necessary then. But, more than that, she proved herself, professionally, a perfect interpreter of Coward's world. She first met him when her mother was appearing in The Vortex in 1924. The first night of the play left her 'literally shaking with excitement'. Her first part in a Coward play came with Easy Virtue in 1925, although she did not appear in another until Alison Leggatt fell ill during the run of Tonight at 8.30 in 1936. But Carey was best known for her roles in Coward's films: a touching death scene in In Which We Serve, and the barmaid with pretensions in Brief Encounter." (Independent Joyce Carey obituary, 1993)
The accompanying press/agency photograph is of Coward, accompanied by Joyce Carey and another close friend, Gladys Calthrop, leaving Buckingham Palace on 3rd February 1970 after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Mrs. Calthrop was a pre-war designer and artist who was associated with many of Coward's productions.
London, Werner Laurie, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth, lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 18/-.
An interesting disputation of the book Oscar Wilde: his life and confessions (1916) penned by Frank Harris and championed by GBS, which Sherard goes to considerable length to assert was in fact chiefly a work of fiction.
Detective Fiction
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1948.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.
Julie Guilles, a refugee from Nazi-occupied France, becomes entangled in a murder in New York and flees across the country to find the elusive "blackbirder," a smuggler who can help her escape to Mexico.
London, John Murray, 1934.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth.
One of the earliest analytical works on British fascism, preceding the war-time suppression of the BUF, often cited in bibliographies of fascist and anti-fascist literature.
London, Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered & ruled in gilt. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
A mock-heroic autobiography addressed to the author's son, recounting tales of adventure and derring-do in post-War Russia and Eastern Europe.