C A L I F O R N I A A N T I Q U A R I A N B O O K F A I R 2 0 2 6
Geoffrey and Enid Faber these versified mewsings of Old Pos - sum. T.S.Eliot”. Illustrations by Nicolas Bentley. Fourteen full page colour illustrations as well as smaller black and white line drawings. A near fine copy with light foxing to the extremities, in a good only dustwrapper which is tanned to spine with chips to the spine ends a repaired tears. $21,500 An exceptional association copy, inscribed by Eliot to his long time pub- lisher, colleague and friend Geoffrey Faber. Faber was the founding ed- itor of Faber & Gwyer, which went on to become Faber & Faber, one of the great houses of British publishing. He had admired Eliot’s early work, in particular The Waste Land and in early 1925 approached him to edit Faber’s Quarterly Review. On the strength of this, Eliot gave up his job at Lloyds and became a full time writer. Eliot was quickly elected to the board and as poetry editor was instrumental in establishing Faber as the most important poetry publisher of the twentieth century. Faber also published all of Eliot’s work in Britain from that point on. It was not only a business relationship that they shared but a profound friendship: Eliot went on holiday with the Fabers virtually every year between 1933 and 1957, and was godfather to their first son, Tom. Eliot would write whimsical letters to his young godson beginning with a humorous notice that “All Pollicle Dogs & Jellicle Cats to come to the birthday of Thomas Faber”, giving birth to series of anthropological verse sent to Tom for his amusement and comment, which was eventual - ly collected into Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. First published without illustration (beyond Eliot’s own doodles to the jacket), this first illustrated edition was published a year after the first edition and Bentley’s illustrations are supposed to have inspired Andrew Lloyd Weber’s well-known musical and its various film adaptations. Gallup A34a
lettering on the spine. A near fine copy in a near fine dustwrap - per that has a little browning to the spine and front panel and light wear to the head of the spine, but an unusually crisp and well preserved copy. $4,250 The author’s most famous children’s book and the inspiration for the musical ‘Cats’. Gallup A34.a
ELIOT, T. S. OLD POS- SUM’S BOOK OF PRACTI - CAL CATS Faber & Faber, 1939 [46722] First edition. Original yel- low cloth with red design on upper cover and red letter - ing on the spine, in a yellow pictorial dustwrapper with a black illustrated designed by the author on the upper and lower cover and black
SIGNED BY T.S. ELIOT [ELIOT, T.S.]; FABER & FABER; FREEDMAN, Barnett; BAWDEN, Edward; ARDIZZONE, Edward FABER CHRIST- MAS CARDS Faber & Faber, 1945-1958 [46531] Ten official Faber Christmas cards, each signed by T.S.Eliot and given by him to his friends, Michael and Janet Richards. Each card designed and illustrated in lithograph by a Faber illustrator, including Barnett Freedman, Edward Bawden, Edward Ardiz- zone, Alan Howard, André François and Gerald Rose. Generally
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