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Ford Madox Ford. The Good Soldier. London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1915....
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Description
Rare presentation copy of Ford's greatest novel
Ford Madox Ford. The Good Soldier. London: John Lane,
the Bodley Head, 1915.8vo. Original blindstamped brick-colored cloth, title printed in tan on upper cover, spine gilt-lettered.
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by the author "To Lucy Masterman who attended with patience at the first conception/ F.M.H./ 20th March 1915."
Inscribed by the author only three days after publication to Lucy Masterson to the wife of Ford's close friend Charles Masterman, then a member of Asquith's cabinet. Lucy was herself a poet, with whom Ford exchanged numerous letters on subjects of literary and personal interest. Ford, who changed his name from Hueffer in 1919 (according to his letter to Charles Masterman, for reasons of convenience rather than patriotism), himself wrote of the book, in his introduction to his Collected Edition of 1927: "So, on the day I was forty I sat down to show what I could do-and The Good Soldier resulted. I fully intended it to be my last book... I regarded myself as the Eel which, having reached the deep sea, brings forth its young and dies-or as the Great Auk I considered that, having reached my allotted, I had laid my one egg and might as well die..." Ford's masterful exposition of the theme of the "eternal quadrilateral" (Connolly)-two couples meeting at a German spa-was remarkable for its exploration of the ambiguities of narrative perspective. The Good Soldier is considered the greatest of Ford's more than sixty books, and one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century.
VERY SCARCE INSCRIBED: Only two copies of the first edition inscribed are recorded at auction since 1975: the present copy inscribed to Lucy Masterman (Sotheby's, 15 December 1982), and the copy inscribed to Graham Greene (The Library of Roger Rechler, Christie's New York, 11 October 2002, lot 108).
Condition: Spine age-darkened; spine ends and extremities slightly rubbed; some very slight fading on rear board.
References: Connolly, The Modern Movement 27; Harvey A46.
Provenance: Lucy Masterman (presentation inscription, sold Sotheby's, 15 December 1982, lot 180; purchased from John Howell Books, San Francisco. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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