T.H. WHITE - Letters to a Friend: The correspondence between White and L.J. Potts.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. FINE-/FINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of publisher's price - these generally believed to be export edns,that are released before the trade edns distribution in the country of its origin.Bright,crisp,clean,wrap-around,glossy,pale blue background with background facsimile reproduction of T.H. White's correspondence with L.J. Potts and a superimposed sepia contemporary photograph taken by Mary Potts of Potts and White,with White wheeling a young child in a wheelbarrow,to front panel of dw/dj,with capitalised,white-lettering with a dark blue shadowed part-title,other blue lettered sub-title and black lettered other strap line to front panel of dw/dj: spine/backstrip with similarly coloured+lettered title as front, dark and dark green-lettered Editor's name, publisher's dark green thumbnail lettered+illustrated colophon to foot of same, rear panel with pale blue background and no text or illustration.Negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners – no nicks,tears or splits present.Top edges with light dust-flecking spots and a couple of other tiny blemishes,fore-edges clean without foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread,other than my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip,and immaculate plain white endpapers. UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,1-278pp [paginated] includes Editor's Introduction,VI (6) chapters,16pp contemporary b/w auto+biographical subject's photographs and b/w line illustrations within the correspondence in 4 blocks of 4pp apiece,interspersed throughout the text and the book,Appendices A-D,a 2pp bibliography,an Index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a Contents list/table with Acknowledgements to its reverse,and a dedication to reverse of 2nd page of the Acknowledgements. Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional,and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation. It really is an exceptional and exemplary copy for its cleanliness and brightnessand lack of faults. Funny,perceptive,moving. . . The many sided genius of a great original is here revealed in his correspondence. T.H. white,author of 'The Once and Future King' the great Arhurian tetralogy upon which the musical Camelot was based and of 'The Goshawk',reveals his innermost thoughts and feeling across the years to his mentor at Cambridge,L.J. Potts.The Cmbridge of E.M.W. Tillyard and I.A. Richards is succeeded by a brief spell of teaching at Stowe under the great J.F. Roxburgh.The life of a writer in Ireland,living simply with his dog Brownie as close companion,is followed by a stay in Yorkshire with David Garnett just after the War.White's final home and resting place is Alderney,where he is visited by John Betjeman, Garnett and Cheshire V.C.Often perverse and difficult throughout his life,he mellows towards the end and throws open his home to the deaf and blind and is reconciled with his long spurned family. White's correspondence reveals a man of deep feelings, with a ready wit and sense of fantasy.Hence his amazing plans (illustrated here by his own drawings) to build a glass town on the Matterhorn and to have London rebuilt as a six mile high pyramid over the Severn.His affinity with the animal kingdom is demonstrated not only in 'The Goshawk',but also in the letters revealing his closeness to his dog Brownie and his sorrow on her death.The strong and positive power of friendship is demonstrated throughout,not only in White's writing to L.J. Potts,but also in his letters to Mary Potts which continued after her husband's death.At the peak of White's commercial success with Camelot,he never fails to remember his lifelong friends. Terence Hanbury White was a novelist,a satirist,and a social historian who probably was best known for his brilliant adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's fifteenth-century romance, Morte d'Arthur', into the quartet of novels called 'The Once and Future King',and also for his novel 'The Goshawk'. He wrote books about hunting and other sports, a detective novel, books of adventure and fantasy, and many short stories and poems. He published a book of poems while still at Cambridge ('Loved Helen and Other Poems'), and continued to write poetry throughout his life. He died on 17th January 1964 aboard ship in Piraeus (Athens), Greece while returning home from his American lecture tour. His last book,'America at Last', which was published after his death,records the tour. Francois Gallix teaches at the Sorbonne and has devoted his life's research to the study of T.H. White.he has written various articles on the subject and has just completed a doctoral thesis on 'The Literary Creation in the Works of T.H. White.' Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,that 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/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of any inexpensive 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. **