First edition. Original gold and blue patterned paper covered boards with title label printed in blue mounted on the front board (thought to be the primary binding). Yellow, patterned endpapers. Author's presentation copy, inscribed in verse for John Gloag on the reverse of the half title, "J.Craven Pritchard is giving a little party / Not exactly 'lowbrow' & not exactly 'arty' / For us functional folk who like beauty stark / And decorate our rooms with it in Belsize Park / To know Craven Pritchard is a pretty good scoop / He`s the live wire behind the twentieth century group /... / John Betjeman". With Gloag's ownership inscription to the front endpaper. Printed in blue and brown on different coloured paper (pink, grey and turquoise) and illustrated by various hands with drawings and decorative borders. A very good copy indeed which is bright and crisp with tanning to the spine with a little wear to its head and the beginnings of splits to the front and rear joints, but holding sound. An extremely well preserved example of a very fragile book.

The author's first book, a characteristically florid production by Betjeman and his Oxford friend Edward James (who financed the venture).
"an elaborate pastiche of outmoded styles in poetry, typography and illustration - reflects the atmosphere of Oxford in the 1920s. Many of the poems were written while Betjeman was an undergraduate..." - William S. Peterson (John Betjeman A Bibliography)
Betjeman and Gloag knew one another through a shared interest in Architecture, though their views often differed, and were co-contributors to The Architectural Review and other periodicals.
Peterson lists this binding as the 'special issue' and the more usually encountered striped 'firecracker' binding as the 'ordinary issue', however in a letter from noted Betjeman collector, Ray Carter, included with this book, he writes, "John Betjeman told me that the proper first state of Mount Zion is the copy with the floral pattern."

PROVENANCE: John Gloag (1896-1981) writer and furniture historian (ownership inscription); Michael Collins (letter from Ray Carter).

Stock ID: 32588