White (Patrick) Happy Valley.

A Novel
London, Harrap, 1939.

First edition, first impression. Inscribed presentation copy from the author’s mother. 8vo. Original cloth.

Patrick White’s debut novel, Happy Valley, is set in a small Australian township, blending realism with psychological depth; it introduces themes – alienation, community tensions, moral conflict – that recur throughout his later work and won the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal. The book is famously scarce because White later suppressed reprints, feeling it derivative, making true firsts very desirable, and a copy inscribed by the author’s mother adds significant provenance.