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SCOTT-JAMES, ANNE: : SKETCHES FROM A LIFE

LONDON.MICHAEL JOSEPH,1993.

ISBN 0718135318.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/NFINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,brown+dark brown background with subject/author monochrome portrait photograph to front panel of dw/dj with white lettering,sunned spine/ backstrip with slight colour loss and white letters,rear panel with subject/ author biographical monochrome thumbnail photograph and white lettered critics' reviews for author's previously published title 'Gardening Letters to My Daughter'; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping, creasing to edges and corners – one small closed tear to rear,op corner - no other nicks,tears or splits present.Top edges with light dust-soiling sporadic flecks, fore-edges bright and clean with two minute flecks of spotting; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound – text body and page edges bright and clean - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners – near pristine,appears unread, other than my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, original,plain dark brown cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip and immaculate/clean plain white sets of endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, 1st edn,viii-xpp+3-198pp [paginated] includes contents list/table, illustrations list,57 letters,12pp contemporary b/w autobiographical photographs in 3 blocks,between pp58-63, pp88/94 and pp156/159 respectively,4 b/w line illus by Osbert Lancaster - two appeared in his book 'Sailing to Byzantium (London,John Murray) and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication with author's acknowledgements to its reverse. Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional for a book of it's age, and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation.It is only the faults described that prevent a slightly higher grading. Anne Scott-James,journalist and gardening writer,was one of the first generation of career girls,rising to become a magazine editor at thirty and later a famous and controversial columnist.She has written her autobiography in the form of 57 letters to her daughter,Clare,a series of memorble sketches of her life and times. She vividly evokes the period charm of her childhood; growing up in the twenties in town and country; and Oxford - disillusioning,but salvaged by music, tennis and Greek.At a time when a professional was something of an oddity, she became one of the first female journalists in Fleet Street,joining VOGUE in the 1930s and - a rewarding experience - working for Picture Post during the war. After marriage (to writer Macdonald Hastings) and children (her son is journalist Max Hastings,Clare works in television),she was Editor of Harper's Bazaar and had columns on the Sunday Express and Daily Mail.Thjis exhiliarating career took her worldwide and involved her with such personalities as Bert Hardy, Lesley Blanch,CecilBeaton,John Betjeman, Nancy Mitford and Rosamond Lehmann.She writes,too,of her marriage to Osbert Lancaster in 1967,of their travels in Europe together and their mutual love of architecture and gardening.Soon afterwards she began to write her well-loved gardening books. Anne Scott-James recalls with wit and insight a wealth of stimulating experiences,people and places; her rich interests; and the advetures of a career that she adored - a life that,with characteristic modesty,she says has 'never been boring.' Elegant and beautifully written,'Sketches From a Life' is as engaging and charming as all who have read Anne Scott-James's columns and books will expect. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US customers please be aware: US Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to USA can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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