read A. A. Milne’s . . . Two People ? It’s colossal. The sort of book I shall buy and re-read every six months or so. What a genius he is at drawing character”. More than two decades later he wrote to another friend, “Any news of A.A.M.? You know he did write some damn good stuff. I can re-read a thing like Two People over and over again and never get tired of it” (Thwaite, p. 372). Octavo. Original brown paper wrappers, 184 disbound leaves together with a single tipped-in leaf, contemporary cardboard wrapper (marked “Two People. A Novel by A. A. Milne”). Together with an autograph letter signed from Milne to John Macrae, 1 leaf (190 × 139 mm), headed notepaper (“Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, Sussex”) together with original parcel wrappings. Additional material comprises a memorandum about the US publication, 1 leaf (278 × 214 mm), a printed invitation for the Waldorf-Astoria reception of the Milnes, and two envelopes. Property from the family of Elliott B. Macrae. Leaves disbound, extremities worn with occasional tears, corner of 7th leaf of gathering 12 torn and secured by paper clip, holes to each leaf, occasional creases, occasional soiling. ¶ Ann Thwaite, A. A. Milne. His Life , 1990. £3,750 [159023] ] 111 MITCHISON, Naomi. The Corn King and the Spring Queen. London: Jonathan Cape, 1931 presented to e. m. forster, her friend and trusted advisor First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to E. M. Forster on the front free endpaper, with his book label on the front pastedown, “E. M. Forster, with much gratitude & all good wishes, from Naomi Mitchison”. Forster read the work in draft and provided feedback from January 1929 onwards. S et in ancient Greece, Egypt, and the lands around the Black Sea, the novel incorporates a fictional magical society with the historical, and explores themes of sexuality and free love that Mitchison herself practised, but which proved provocative at the time of publication. It is “widely agreed to be her finest novel, and perhaps the best historical novel of the 20th century” (Longford). This “breathtaking recreation of life in the ancient world welds the power of myth and magic to a stirring plot” and drew on her interest in myth and ritual enriched by her reading of the writings of James George Frazer (Rankin). Mitchison (1897–1999) was a prolific Scottish author, publishing over 90 books of historical and science fiction, travel writing, and autobiography. Her most controversial work, We Have Been Warned
Press” with the date 25 August 1931. In accordance with a set of pages that has been used by a typesetter, the leaves are disbound and each has a hole – each leaf was presumably collected on a spike. There are instructions throughout to inform a typesetter about the size of type required, capitalization, italicization, and deletions, and there are indications to show the division of the book into galleys. Of greater importance are substantive corrections to the text by the author. Annotations include a request on, p. 75 asking, “couldn’t this be made to look more like the top of a literary column in a newspaper?”, and, on page 82, “There is no tobacconist in the village” has been re-written to read “They don’t sell this tobacco in the village”. Also included is an autograph letter, dated 15 August 1931, to Elliott B. Macrae signed by Milne enclosing the book which is “all ready for you”. Milne implores his publisher “for Heaven’s sake watch your own proofs carefully” and notes that Methuen is “sending you over the finally approved binding”, although he states “why, I don’t know, because you can safely be left to your own ideas”. Milne signs off stating “we shall look forward to seeing you again in the autumn”. A visit to New York by the author and his wife in the autumn of 1931 duly followed. “Milne’s visit to New York, with all the attendant publicity, undoubtedly helped to put Two People on the American bestseller list, though perhaps most people who bought it were interested mainly in seeing what Christopher Robin’s father was up to now” (Thwaite, p. 371). A printed invitation card for E. P. Dutton’s reception at the Waldorf-Astoria is included. Milne’s novel was particularly well-received by P. G. Wodehouse. Writing to a friend he asked, “Have you
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(1935) was explicitly feminist in its support for birth control, for which she was a vocal supporter, and was extensively censored pre-publication. Mitchison was a committed socialist and the present explicitly anti- fascist work has also been read by some as a warning to the Labour party, of which she was a member, on the potential pitfalls and risks for an activist party. She visited the Soviet Union in 1932 as part of a Fabian Society group, and travelled to Austria in 1934, where she helped smuggle documents and left-wing refugees out of the country. Mitchison and Forster were part of a shared literary coterie, their mutually advisory friendship beginning in 1923, when Forster wrote to Mitchison to discuss her first novel, The Conquered . Her and her husband the Labour MP Dick Mitchison’s main residence from 1923 to 1939, River Court House, Hammersmith, was a lively intellectual centre frequented by a wide circle of artists, writers, and politicians including Aldous Huxley, Wyndham Lewis, and W. H. Auden. Octavo. Original blue and cream dapple cloth, spine lettered in blue, geometric art deco design to spine and front cover in red, publisher’s device in blind to rear
cover, bottom edge untrimmed. Printed on onion paper. With 4 black and white illustrations by Zofia Stryjenska. Spine, board edges, and top edge browned, occasional spots of foxing to upper margins, a remarkably well- preserved copy in very good condition indeed. ¶ Elizabeth Longford, “Obituary: Naomi Mitchison”, The Independent, 13 January 1999, available online; Ian Rankin, review for the Canongate 2010 edition, available online. £1,000 [159738] 112 MITFORD, Nancy. The Pursuit of Love. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1945 sun, silence, and happiness First edition of the first instalment of Mitford’s popular trilogy, followed by Love in a Cold Climate (1949) and Don’t Tell Alfred (1960). Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With dust jacket designed by Furze. Ownership inscription in blind to front free endpaper. Spine leaning, board edges and spine ends slightly rubbed, cloth faintly marked, notably clean and fresh for a war economy standard production. A very good copy in the like creased and faintly soiled jacket, remaining bright, spine ends chipped, a couple of short closed tears along the edges, the most significant to the rear panel just touching one letter. £1,250 [158731]
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110 MILNE, A. A. Two People. London: Methuen, [1931] authorial corrections for the author’s significant novel Proof copy for the US setting of the novel, with authorial corrections and numerous annotations in other hands, presentation copy, inscribed by the author “For Jimmy Macrae, [ Two People ] who are very fond of Macraes. A.A. Milne” and additionally signed “and Daphne Milne” by the author’s wife. Milne’s novel was published in the UK by Methuen and in the US by Dutton in October 1931. Methuen
publicized the work as the author’s “first serious attempt at the novel” and stated that it concerned “the presentation of the difficulties of a young married couple”. It has frequently been assumed that the novel includes autobiographical aspects. As noted by Ann Thwaite, in her biography of Milne, “there is . . . a great deal of autobiography in Two People and there are certainly scenes, amid a good deal of sentimentality, which ring so true that one finds oneself assuming they were based on real life, as so much of Milne’s writing had always been” (Thwaite, p. 359). It appears that the author sent a revised version of the UK proof to his US publisher and this copy has a stamp on the front wrapper noting “Copy for the
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DECEMBER 2022
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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