Description
Westwood or the Gentle Powers. London: Longmans &c., 1946, first edition, presentation copy from Stella to "Beth" [Elizabeth Daw], dust-jacket faded, rubbed and slightly soiled, text somewhat spotted; [Idem] Ticky. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1943, first edition, presentation copy to Beth Daw, dust-jacket rubbed and slightly soiled, endpapers spotted; [Idem] My American. London: Longmans &c., reprinted 1941, presentation copy to Beth Daw, original cloth, rubbed and soiled; Idem] Cold Comfort Farm. 1938, Penguin paperback, signed by Stella on endpaper, very worn and soiled, crudely rebacked; [Idem] The Bachelor. London: Longmans &c., 1944. First edition, presentation copy to Elizabeth Daw, dust-jacket worn with loss and soiled; [Idem] The Bachelor. 1944. First edition, signed by the author, with later inscription to someone else, rubbed and very soiled; [Idem] Beside the Pearly Water. P. Nevill, 1954. First edition, presentation copy to Mac Beth, dust-jacket worn with loss and soiled, endpapers stained; with 14 A.L.S. to Elizabeth Daw, signed as Stella or Stella Webb and 3 T.L.S., 1944-45, mostly family news, one briefly referring to The Bachelor going off to the printer, one outlining the idea of Westwood", one referring to its success "will have sold 30,000 copies by the time the next edition is through!", and to The Matchmaker, 19 Oakeshott Av., Highgate or Beke Hall Lodge, Billinsgshurst
Footnote
Note: The letters are addressed to Miss Elizabeth Daw of Wortley Farm, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, the farm belonging to Elizabeth's - Beth's - parents. The inscription at the beginning of Westwood reads "Dear Beth from Stella - to be read in the Little Room, Wortley, where part of it was written, summer, 1944, Oct. 21 1946". Family tradition has it that Cold Comfort Farm was partly inspired by Wortley Farm.
Provenance: From Elizabeth Daws to her daughter Mrs Janet Brown, the vendor.