Clearwater Books

ENID BAGNOLD. Anne Sebba. Enid Bagnold. The Authorized Biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1986. First edition - this copy inscribed thus: "With best wishes Anne Sebba, August 1986" (the recipient being Arthur Calder-Marshall, who had written a glowing appreciation of Enid Bagnold and her work). 8vo. 317pp. A very nice copy in dust wrapper. £15

JOHN BETJEMAN. Bevis Hillier. Young Betjeman. John Murray, London 1988. First edition – the dedication copy, inscribed by the author “To Oliver, one of the dedicatees, with much love from his uncle, the author, Bevis. Redhill, July 1988”.  8vo. 479pp. Illustrated with over forty captioned photographs. A very good copy in dust wrapper. The first volume of Hillier’s mammoth three-decker biography of Betjeman, the research and writing of which occupied twenty-five years. (Oliver is the youngest child of Hillier’s sister, Mary Thompson). £95

JAMES BOSWELL. Ian Finlayson. The Moth and the Candle. A Life of James Boswell. With illustrations. Constable, London 1984. First edition. 8vo. A fine copy in dust wrapper. £15

ANTHONY BURGESS. Little Wilson and Big God. Confessions I [and] You've Had Your Time. Confessions II. Burgess’ autobiography, complete in two volumes. Heinemann, London 1987 & 1990. First editions. 8vo. Paperstock a little tanned and with a small blemish to the front endpaper of a single volume. Very good copy in dust wrappers, one in fine state and the other a little faded at spine panel. £15

HUBERT CRACKANTHORPE. David Crackanthorpe. Hubert Crackanthorpe and English Realism in the 1890s. With illustrations. University of Missouri Press, Columbia 1977. First edition. 8vo. 193pp. A little light spotting to top and fore edge and boards lifting just a fraction. A very crisp copy in slightly dust marked price-clipped dust wrapper. £15

C.DAY-LEWIS. Peter Stanford. C.Day-Lewis. A Life. Continuum, London 2007. First edition. 8vo. 368pp. Illustrated with twenty-two photographs. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. £10

CHARLES DICKENS. Norman & Jeanne MacKenzie. Dickens. A Life. With illustrations. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1979. First edition. 8vo. 434pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper. £10

JOHN DRYDEN. Kenneth Young. John Dryden. A Critical Biography. Sylvan Press, London 1954. First edition. 8vo. A good, bright copy in chipped dust wrapper. £7.50

VIVIENNE ELIOT. Carole Seymour-Jones. Painted Shadow. A Life of Vivienne Eliot. Constable, London 2001. First edition. 8vo. xx, 682pp. Illustrated with forty photographs and reproductions. Two small areas of scuffing to the half-title, else a fine copy in fine price-clipped dust wrapper. The first biography of T.S.Eliot’s first wife, who was committed to a mental hospital in 1938, five years after Eliot abandoned her, and who died there in 1947. £10

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. Artemis Cooper. Patrick Leigh Fermor. An Adventure. John Murray, London 2012. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 448pp. Illustrated with fifty-two photographs and two holograph manuscript reproductions. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. A celebrated biography of Paddy Fermor, written by his literary executor. £40

ROY FULLER. Souvenirs [and] Vamp Till Ready. Further Memoirs. [and] Home and Dry. Memoirs III. The author’s memoirs, complete in three volumes. London Magazine Editions, London 1980-1984. A first edition set of Fuller’s memoirs. 8vo. Top edges spotted, else in virtually fine state with virtually fine dust wrappers. £35

FRANK KAFKA. Ernst Pawel. The Nightmare of Reason. A Life of Franz Kafka. Harvill Press, London 1984. The first UK edition, issued the same year as the US edition. xiv + 466pp. Cloth-backed paper-covered boards. Illustrated with thirty photographs. A touch of wear to the base of the boards and small area of light staining to the lower edge. A lovely crisp copy in dust wrapper with a short tear to the head of the front panel-spine panel join. £15

AUGUSTUS JOHN. Michael Holroyd. Augustus John: The Years of Innocence [and] The Years of Experience. Heinemann, London 1974-1975. First editions, complete in two volumes, the first volume signed by the author at the head of the title page and dated the year of publication. 8vo. Illustrated with fifty photographs and reproductions. Some spotting to edges and some partial browning to endpapers. A very crisp set in lightly if unevenly spotted dust wrappers. £35

SAMUEL JOHNSON. Rev.J.F.Russell. The Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson. With frontispiece and decorations. James Burns, London 1847. First edition. Small 8vo. Original gilt-decorated, blind-embossed cloth. Covers just a little bumped or rubbed at some extremities. Endpaper hinges cracked, with label partially removed from one endpaper. Name of former owner. £30

JACK KEROUAC. Barry Miles. Jack Kerouac. Kings of the Beats. A Portrait. Virgin Publishing Ltd., London 1989. First edition. 8vo. 332pp. Head of backstrip lightly bruised. Very good indeed in very slightly marked and chafed dust wrapper. £10

PHILIP LARKIN. Andrew Motion. Philip Larkin. A Writer's Life. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York 1993. First US edition, issued the same year as the UK edition. 8vo. xx, 570pp. Quarter cloth with speckled paper-covered board. With fifty-five captioned photographs. A short series of numerals inked to the base of the front pastedown, and obscured by the wrapper flap, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, marred by a trace of chafing to the spine panel ends and a little light dust soiling to the predominantly white rear panel. £15

WYNDHAM LEWIS. Paul O’Keeffe. Some Sort of Genius. A Life of Wyndham Lewis. Jonathan Cape, London 2000. First edition. 8vo. 697pp. Illustrated with thirty-eight photographs and reproductions. A small area of staining to the top edge and a former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the head of the title leaf. A very good copy in fine price-clipped dust wrapper. £20

NANCY MITFORD. Nancy Mitford. A Memoir by Harold Acton (largely based upon her letters to the author). With illustrations. Hamish Hamilton, London 1975. First edition. 8vo. 252pp. A very crisp and bright copy in slightly torn and chafed dust wrapper. £15

PAUL NASH. James King. Interior Landscapes. A Life of Paul Nash. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1987. First edition. 8vo. 258pp. With decorated colour endpapers and twenty-four monochrome reproductions, several full-page. A virtually fine copy with virtually fine dust wrapper, marred only by a single tiny crease to the base of the spine panel. £15

EUGENE O’NEILL. Barrett H.Clark. Eugene O’Neill. The Man and His Plays. Robert M.McBride & Company, New York 1929. First edition – a presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the English playwright and critic Allan Noble Monkhouse, and dated the month of publication. 8vo. 214pp. Just a hint of fading to the publisher’s top edge stain, else in virtually fine state with slightly tanned, spotted, chafed and rubbed dust wrapper. £50

NIKOLAUS PEVSNER. Susie Harries. Nikolaus Pevsner. The Life. Chatto & Windus, London 2011. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author to Betjeman scholar Peter Gammond and his wife. 8vo. xii + 866pp. Illustrated with forty-eight photographs. Spine ends a little rubbed, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. Laid-in is a publisher’s slip noting that this is a review copy for the Betjeman Society newsletter; Peter Gammond, persistent scribbler that it was, obliged with a glowing two-page review in the 2011-12 issue of The Betjemanian. £25

PETER QUENNELL. Autobiography. Complete in two volumes comprising The Marble Foot. An Autobiography from 1905-1938 [and] The Wanton Chase. An Autobiography from 1939. Collins, London 1976 & 1980. Individual volumes as follows: The Marble Foot. An Autobiography from 1905-1938. (1976). First edition. 8vo. 254pp. Portrait frontispiece. A touch of light spotting to top- and fore edge, else in fine state with fine dust wrapper. The Wanton Chase. An Autobiography from 1939. (1980). First edition. 8vo. 192pp. Portrait frontispiece. Contemporary former owner gift inscription neatly inked to the head of the front free endpaper and just a touch of rubbing to spine ends. Very good indeed in price-clipped dust wrapper, a little sunned and discoloured and with the publisher’s laminate lifting a fraction in one small area. A very nice set of Quennell’s two volumes of memoirs, detailing his life and work, plus literary adventures with Somerset Maugham, Cyril Connolly, Evelyn Waugh, Duff and Diana Cooper, Ian Fleming, Noel Coward and Maclean & Burgess. £20

DOROTHY RICHARDSON. John Rosenberg. Dorothy Richardson. The Genius They Forgot. A Critical Biography. Duckworth, London 1973. First edition. 8vo. 212pp.  Photographic portrait frontispiece. A tiny hint of spotting to the fore edge, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. The first biography of the noted modernist novelist, published to mark the centenary of her birth. £10

ALICE B.TOKLAS. Linda Simon. The Biography of Alice B.Toklas. With illustrations. Peter Owen, London 1978. The first English edition. 8vo. 324pp. A hint of marking to boards, else a very good copy with lightly dust marked dust wrapper. Neat former owner rubber name-stamp to front endpaper. £10

ALICE WALKER. Evelyn C.White. Alice Walker. A Life. W.W.Norton, New York 2004. First edition, not issued in the UK. 8vo. 538pp. Illustrated with forty-eight photographs. In virtually fine state with dust wrapper, just fractionally creased at head of spine panel. The first full-length biography of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author. £15

EDMUND WILSON. Jeffrey Meyers. Edmund Wilson. A Biography. Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York 1995. First edition. 8vo. 554pp. Cloth-backed boards. Illustrated with thirty photographs. A tiny sliver of discolouration to the board extremities, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper, with a barcode sticker to the rear panel and a UK price sticker to the front flap, suggesting that that was one of an unspecified number of copies assigned to the British market. £10