The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Macmillan, 1960.
First edition. Original green cloth titled in red, in pictorial dustwrapper designed by Victor Reinganum. Author's presentation copy, inscribed to her landlady of many years at Baldwin Crescent, 'Tiny' Lazzari, "To my dearest friend Mrs Lazzari with love from Muriel Spark." A near fine copy in a very good dustwrapper, somewhat worn at the corners and spine ends.
A fine association, inscribed to a "crucial figure in her life" (Stannard) at the beginning of her career as a novelist.
"Muriel left Allington Castle in August 1955... She longed to reconnect herself to the normality - and anonymity - of the metropolis... Father O'Malley had a niece, Teresa Walshe, who lodged with a Catholic landlady. It was one of the best introductions Muriel ever received. 'Tiny' Lazzari was a vivacious, chirruping Irish widow with a Cork accent, small of stature, big of heart." (Stannard - Muriel Spark: The Biography)
During the ten years Spark stayed at Baldwin Crescent she established herself as one of the pre-eminent post war British novelists. During that period Lazzari became an important figure in Spark's life, acting as sounding board, confidant and (when required) gatekeeper as well as a close friend.
"Evelyn Waugh once wrote to me to say that now I was becoming established I should move to a good address. On paper, the advice was of course very wise. But nothing would part me from Tiny Lazzari and my rooms at 13 Baldwin Crescent" (Spark - Curriculum Vitae)
Stock ID: 36771
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