Beschreibung:

Waugh (Evelyn) Black Mischief, new edition, number 12 of 12 large paper copies signed and numbered by the author with presentation inscription to Maud Russell "with grateful memories of Whitsun, 1950", frontispiece, original stiff wrappers with printed blue labels to upper cover, yapp edges, light browning to spine and margins of boards, uncut and unopened, a remarkably sharp and fine example, preserved in custom drop-back box with morocco label to upper cover, large 8vo, 1937. ⁂ A superb example of one of the rare copies of this edition given to Waugh for private distribution. After running through a number of impressions of their first editions, Waugh's first four novels were reset and reprinted in a larger format. Of this edition, Waugh was given 12 copies of each title printed on rag mould-made paper for private distribution. Maud Russell (née Nelke, 1892-1982), British socialite and patron of the arts. From 1934, Maud Russell lived with her husband Gilbert Russell at Mottisfont Abbey, which soon became a focal point for artists and writers. She was notably a lover of Ian Fleming and famously commissioned Rex Whistler to decorate a room in the abbey in his magnificent trompe-l'oeil style (Whistler has been mooted as a possible inspiration for Brideshead's Charles Ryder, who undertakes a similar project towards the end of the novel). Waugh visited the abbey in May 1950, commenting in a letter to Nancy Mitford after his return: "It was the craving for social life took me to Mottisfont. Well it was all dishevelled war widows playing Canasta..." , it is likely that it is to this trip he is alluding in his inscription.