J O N K E R S R A R E B O O K S
P R E S E N T A T I O N C O P I E S & M A N U S C R I P T S
AGATHA CHRISTIE TO THE SHIPSTONS
12. CHRISTIE, Agatha DUMB WITNESS Collins, 1937. First edition. Original orange cloth with thick black lettering. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed “Geoff & Violet from Agatha” on the front endpaper. A near fine copy, a little cocked with a slightly faded spine. [33661] £3,750 Inscribed for Geoff and Violet Shipston, close friends of Christie’s and the dedicatees of Three Act Tragedy.
CONRAD TO ARTHUR MARWOOD
13. CONRAD, Joseph VICTORY Methuen, 1915. First UK edition. Original red cloth lettered in gilt. Author’s presentation copy, in- scribed on publication on the front endpaper, “To Caroline and Arthur Marwood from J. Conrad 1915.” A bright and clean near fine copy, with a touch of fading to the spine.. [39131] £7,500 A charming association copy of Conrad’s psychological novel. Conrad met Arthur Marwood through their mutual friend Ford Madox Ford, who later based the hero of Parade’s End, Christo- pher Tietjens, on Marwood’s life and character. Marwood was evidently a loyal and assiduous reader of Conrad’s work, and wrote to him in April 1915 to suggest a correction that might be made in Victory. Conrad’s reply suggests a strong friendship: “I ammuch relieved by your letter as far as Victory is concerned... you, my dear fellow, are the real Wise Man of the Age. I am so convinced by the truth of what you say that I’d have cabled to U. S. the correction you suggest, if it hadn’t been too late... I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you for our friendship, which speaks aloud to me out of the lines of your letter so indulgent and so careful of my good fame and fortune” (30th April 1915).
CHANDLER TO FLEMING 11. CHANDLER, Raymond PLAYBACK Hamish Hamilton 1958.
First edition. Publisher’s red cloth, lettered yellow to spine, in the original dustwrap- per. Author’s presentation copy, inscribed to Ian Fleming on the front free endpaper, “To Ian, With Love Ray”. A fine copy in a very good dustwrapper indeed with a little wear to the spine ends and corners. [40896] £50,000 An exceptional association linking two of the most influential thriller writers of the twentieth century. The presentation is the culmination of a brief but intense friendship which began at a dinner party hosted by Stephen Spender in May 1955. Shortly afterwards, Fleming sent Chandler, then the doyen of the hard boiled fiction genre, a copy of the newly published Moonraker, stating hopefully in the accompanying letter, “a word from you which I could pass on to my publishers would make me the fortune which has so far eluded me.” Chandler not only wrote an enthusiastic endorsement of Moonraker, but also encouraged Flem- ing, who was growing tired of James Bond, to continue writing. “Chandler’s approval... seems to have changed the whole attitude of Fleming to his hero and his work and to have made him decide that his next book, instead of finishing Bond for good, would go to the opposite extreme. It would be different from any other book he had written, it would have depth and seriousness. Bond would become a ‘rounded character’ like Chandler’s hero, Phil- ip Marlowe...” - Pearson (The Life of Ian Fleming) Since the death of his wife in 1954, Chandler had become a frequent visitor to England and he and Fleming corresponded and met often. The last time they were to meet was on the publication of Playback in July 1958. Fleming had agreed to interview his friend for the BBC’s Third Program and at lunch afterwards, Chandler gave Fleming this copy of his just published novel. Within seven months and Chandler’s increasingly excessive drinking taking its toll, he died in California.
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