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really delightful and even lovable” (Letter to Saxon Sydney- Turner, 18 September 1917). Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in burgundy morocco, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards in gilt, twin rule to turn-ins in gilt, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. Four pages of publisher’s advertisements at the rear. Some occasional light foxing, an excellent copy. ¶ John Henry Stape (ed.), Virginia Woolf, Interviews and Recollections , 1955; Nicolson & Trautmann (eds.), The Letters of Virginia Woolf , vol. 2, 1976. £2,750 [147835] 50 FORSTER, E. M. A Passage to India. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1924 From the library of the author’s mother and including a nostalgic note by Forster First edition, limited issue, number 70 of 200 copies signed by the author on the limitation page, additionally inscribed “My mother’s copy. West Hackhurst. 1946” on the front free endpaper. Although signed copies are available due to the signed limited issue, inscribed examples with any personal association are rare. The Forster family home in Abinger Hammer in Surrey was named West Hackhurst and was built by the author’s architect father, Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster (1847–1880). The freehold on the property was owned by Lord Farrer of Abinger, and the Forsters relationship with the Farrers was frequently tense.
Writing in “West Hackhurst: a Surrey Ramble”, Forster noted that the house was “a little inconvenient and smaller than it looks. And there was and still is no gas, no electric light, no central heating, no hot water supply or baths. The drinking water is pumped from a well and carried to the kitchen in buckets, and when the well goes wrong we have to carry from High Hackhurst. The washing water is pumped up every morning into a cistern from a tank which is filled by the rain off the roof. But it is prettier to look at than Abinger Hall”. After the installation of a water supply at West Hackhurst, the Forster family would frequently keep it running to reduce water pressure for their neighbours at Abinger Hall. From 1925 until the death of his mother in 1945, Forster lived with her at West Hackhurst. The lease expired in 1946 and Forster was forced to leave his home of over 20 years. He noted he was “very sorry to leave a neighbourhood which I have known all my life and in it so many good friends”. Several books from Forster’s library are known with this inscription denoting the same maternal provenance, as noted by Munby in his 1971 introduction to Heffer’s catalogue of Forster’s books. This copy, however, does not appear in the Heffer catalogue. Octavo. Original brown cloth-backed boards, paper spine label, spare label at rear, top edge gilt, others uncut, title page in red and black. Book label of Pierre Bergé. One corner bumped, minor marks to spine label and spine, some light browning; a near-fine and attractive copy. ¶ Kirkpatrick A10a, p. 44. P. N. Furbank, E. M. Forster: A Life , II, p. 123. £25,000 [158162]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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