EVELYN WAUGH, AGED 7 1/4
The Curse of the Horse Race
Printed for Cobden Sanderson, 1932.
The author's own proof sheets of his contribution to the 1932 work, "Little Innocents". Four sheets, printed on one side, unbound. Inscribed by Waugh to Diana Cooper on the reverse of the final leaf, "the Lady Diana Cooper 202", with the author's further annotation adding his age of 7¼ to the first page. Folds to pages, otherwise fine. Housed in chemise and quarter morocco box.
A very rare, if not unique, individual issue of Waugh's first piece of fiction, written at about the age of seven. The manuscript of this piece of juvenilia is held (along with most of Waugh's papers) at the Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, where it is listed as item A1 in their catalogue. It was first published in Little Innocents (1932) and then collected in Tactical Exercise (1954). The first page of the manuscript is reproduced in Waugh's autobiography, A Little Learning.
It was given by Waugh to Diana Cooper at the beginning of their long friendship when Waugh was sufficiently enamoured of her to follow her round the country during a provincial tour of The Miracle, in which Cooper starred. It seems likely that the '202' in Waugh's inscription refers to Cooper's hotel room.
Stock ID: 35444
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