CONCERNING THE ECCENTRICITIES OF CARDINAL PIRELLI

London: Grant Richards Ltd, 1926. First Edition. Firbank's final novel, published a month after his death in 1926. "Cardinal Pirelli has no story. Indeed, it has only two pieces of action. The book opens before the baptismal font as Pirelli in the full panoply of his office is administering the sacrament to a puppy, a young police dog named Crack. It ends when the naked Cardinal, on the night before his departure for Rome and the Pope's discipline as a consequence of the baptism, falls dead chasing the boy Chicklet around the great empty Cathedral of Clemenza, the "Cage of God" (Benkovitz, p.277). There was no corresponding American edition; Brentano's decided against publishing the book on "religious and moral grounds," fearing the anti-clerical sentiments would alienate customers. Benkovitz A11. First Impression, one of 1,000 copies. Octavo (19.25cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; lime green topstain; dustjacket; [6],7-150,[2]pp, with a frontispiece portrait of the author by Augustus John. Lower corners gently tapped (though still sharp), else a fresh, very Near Fine copy. Dustjacket shows light wear along the upper edge, with a few tiny tears and creases to same; a bright, very Near Fine example.