The Blessing
Hamish Hamilton, 1951.
First edition. Original navy cloth, lettered gilt, in the pictorial dustwrapper by Cecil Beaton and original wraparound band. Author's presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper "Darling Molly with loving messages from Nancy Mitford xx(x)" A fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper and wraparound band, slightly worn at the head of the spine.
Nancy Mitford became temporary manager of Mayfair bookshop, G. Heywood Hill, when the eponymous owner was called up for the second world war in 1942. The following year Mollie Buchanan, a regular at the shop during the period where the opening hours were described as "an eight-hour cocktail party without any drink", started taking care of the accounts. The success of The Pursuit of Love meant that Mitford could leave the shop (to be replaced as manager by Mollie's husband, Handasyde) and settle in Paris in 1946, but she continued to correspond with both Mollie and Heywood Hill for years to come.
Stock ID: 42616
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