Master of the House

London: Jonathan Cape, 1932. Good. SIGNED, LIMITED EDITION, 84 of 172 only copies, 167 for sale. Large 8vo, pp. [2], 490, [2]. Quarter vellum, lettered and ruled in gilt, beige cloth. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed, a number uncut at leading edge. Marbled endpapers. Soiled, boards unevenly darkened, bottom corners bumped, 4.5cm fine crack with chip to top of front joint, binding firm. Scant foxing, most obvious at front. Signed and numbered by Hall in blue ink to limitation page, else, clean. A sturdy copy of an attractive edition. Good+ Published in the same year as the trade edition (see our copy ref. 2722). Hall was an early guest at a Foyles Literary Luncheon on 17 March 1932, held to mark the publication of The Master of the House; the first lunch had been held only two years earlier, with the monthly event at the Dorchester Hotel rapidly became a literary tradition. Despite, or perhaps because of, the banning and scandal circling Hall's previous novel, The Well of Loneliness (1928), 700 people came to hear them speak and sign copies afterwards (Souhami, 1999). Set in Provence, Hall's protagonist, Christophe Marie B�n�dit, is a Christ-like figure, through whom, according to Una Troubridge, Hall sought to make amends for Beresford Egan's crass caricature of Hall-on-the-cross in The Sink of Solitude (1928). The novel was not a success in either the UK or US and proved another painful book for Hall, who apparently suffered symptoms akin to stigmata during its production (Souhami, 1999). Diana Souhami (1999) The Trials of Radclyffe Hall. London: Virago Press