Tales my Father Taught Me: an Evocation of Extravagant Episodes

London: Hutchinson, 1962. 1st. h/b. Near fine, 1st edition, clipped d/j (in protective sleeve);green boards, gilt on blue panel spine titling bright; text block firm; pages crisp and unmarked (some slight browning) top edges blue.. 8vo (230 x 150 / 9"" x 6""). SIR OSBERT SITWELL's five-volume autobiography, Left Hand, Right Hand! is accepted as one of the great literary accomplishments of our time; the work of an artist, polished, witty, brilliant; a piece of social history, full of vivid characterization of people, above and below stairs, with their graces and oddities. From these volumes there emerged life-size portraits, not only of the author himself, but of an exceptional man and an exceptional father, Sir George Sitwell. Inevitably, for reasons of the general design, and because of the very symmetry of the work, several memories of Sir George Sitwell had to be omitted, even though in themselves they claimed the author's attention by their vivacity and originality. In this way Tales My Father Taught Me came into being. Many other figures, familiar to readers of the autobiography, reappear in the episodes recounted in these pages. Thus the book is a rounding off, a magnificent peroration, with all the qualities of controlled expansiveness, urbanity and humour that have made Sir Osbert Sitwell one of the great writers of the twentieth century.