INSCRIBED FOR STEPHEN TENNANT
4. Memoirs Of A Fox-Hunting Man [SASSOON, Siegfried]
Faber and Gwyer, 1928. First edition. Publisher’s blue cloth in the original dustwrapper. Inscribed by Sassoon for Stephen Tennant on the half-title, “To Stephen with love from the author.” A good copy, triangular gouge to lower cover, in a good dustwrapper, a little chipped and worn, with splits to the upper joint. [42555] £9,500 An extraordinary association copy, inscribed by Sassoon to his great love Stephen Tennant. They had met in the summer of 1927, while Sassoon was working on the present book, his first volume of memoirs. After spending their first weekend together and beginning their affair, Sassoon recorded in his diary that Tennant “seems to me the most enchanting creature I have ever met”. The following year he would record in his diary that “I ask nothing but to be near him always”, and that with Tennant he knew “perfect happiness”. Sassoon shared excerpts of the manuscript with Tennant throughout its composition, noting on 11th January 1928 that Stephen “adored” what he had read. By publication in September 1928, they were touring Europe together, and while in Venice managed to secure a copy of The Observer to read J. C. Squire’s positive review. Published anonymously and without dedication, this copy is certainly inscribed to the most important person in Sassoon’s life at the time. Keynes A30a. PROVENANCE: Stephen Tennant (artist and socialite, 1906-1987); William S. Reese (bookseller and noted Sassoon collector, 1955-2018).
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