Modern Literature
The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
London, Chapman & Hall, 1945.
First UK trade edition, first impression. 8vo. Original red cloth gilt. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.
An attractive, unsophisticated example of the author's magnum opus (something Waugh himself thought of the work), ranked by both Time Magazine and Modern Library as one of the top 100 novels of the 20th century. The jacket is notoriously frail and as a result copies that come to market have often been restored or touched up - refreshingly not the case with this copy.
Modern Literature
London, Chapman & Hall, 1927
First edition, second impression. Large 8vo. Tipped-in slip. Plates. Original cloth. Dust-jacket.
Inscribed by the author E.H. Bostock, most famous for the Glasgow Zoo and Circus on New City Road, as well as cinema and variety house interests in Paisley, Hamilton and Wishaw; he opened a cinema in the Zoo and Circus. His animals were internationally famous and appeared in such films as The Rajah's Sacrifice (1916).
The foreword notes: "Mr. Bostock has been called the Barnum of Britain. Judged by the magnitude and multitude of his enterprises, he may well claim the title, for he has been a pioneer of modern entertainment as well as a practitioner of older forms."
War, Invasion & Spy
Kauffer (E. McKnight, jacket artist); Onions ([George] Oliver) Peace in Our Time
London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Stunning jacket artwork by one of the greatest 20th century jacket artists, E. McKnight Kauffer. Given the condition of the book compared to the jacket we have to presume this is either a marriage or a case of the book and the jacket being kept apart, with the jacket filed away safely...
Modern Literature
London, Chapman & Hall, 1932.
First edition, trade issue. 8vo. Original patterned cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
Waugh's famous satirical novel set in the fictional African island nation of Azania. The young emperor, Seth, educated in England, endeavors to modernise his kingdom with the assistance of his English friend, Basil Seal.
War, Invasion & Spy
London, Chapman & Hall, 1955.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced at 12s.6.
A very good first edition of the second book in Waughs' Sword of Honour trilogy, loosed derived from the author's own wartime experiences.