Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR – T. S Eliot

Description

HARDBACK – The book is in very good condition with clean yellow boards. The inner text is clean, free of finger marks or folded pages. The book has been Inscribed by the author, the inscription reads FOR SALLY BLAKE FROM TOM POSSUM. Sally Blake was the daughter of George Blake, the Scottish author, journalist and Broadcaster. Sally Blake’s father became friends with Eliot after being made director of Faber & Faber in 1930, and as Sally Blake herself recalls, in August 1942 he invited Eliot to his home in East Devon Lodge in Dollar, Scotland. There was much anticipation in the Blake household at the prospect of Eliot’s visit, and some anxiety on the part of Sally over the imminent arrival of the ‘important man’. Knowing that Blake had an eight year old daughter, Eliot had brought with him this copy of Old Possum which he duly Inscribed to Sally. He did spend some time reading to the girl, but rather than his own poems, he chose the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Unfortunately, he also chose to adopt a deep southern American accent, which much have sounded entirely foreign, and perhaps a little frightening, to young Scottish ears. At any rate Sally was unsettled to the point of tears, and looking back now, she suggests that the poet rather put the enjoyment of his own performance above the sensibilities of his young listener. The dust wrapper is in very good condition with a little browning to the spine. There are a couple of small closed tears, with a little rubbing to the folds. The dust wrapper has not been price clipped, and presents as a very nice clean example. Bookseller Inventory # 001024