With ALS by Ardizzone

BATES, H. E.; & Edward ARDIZZONE, [Illus.] ~ My Uncle Silas. With ALS by Ardizzone.

First UK edition, Jonathan Cape, London: 1939

Large 8vo., bright green boards with vignette by Ardizzone printed in black to upper board; lettered in gilt with decorations in gilt to backstrip, including publisher’s device to foot; housed in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (10s. 6d. net), printed in black and pink; with frontis replicating upper board; title vignette, and a further 27 full-page drawings by Ardizzone; THE BOOK a very good copy, light browning and spotting to the endleaves with some bubbling to the lower paste-down; a few light green splash marks to the upper edge; boards a trifle rubbed along edges, with some dark spots and bruising to the spine tips; previous ownership inscription to foot of ffep; the very good DUST WRAPPER evenly toned, a couple of small spots and stains and light nicks to ends of folds; one slightly larger chip to head of spine; some marginal red staining along the front flap fold; unlike many copies, no loss of pink colouring to the upper panel. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, with ALS by Ardizzone loosely inserted. Dated 13th Feb 1948, the illustrator writes that ‘I am pleased that you like my work’, that he is going away, but the lucky recipient will receive a drawing from him once he returns: “when I come back I will go through what small drawings I have + find you one”. A book of short stories by H. E. Bates, loosely based on Joseph Betts, the husband of his maternal grandmother. Betts was a humorous, pithy character, with many quirks, and the tales are drawn directly from Bates’ experiences growing up under his care, and listening to his stories, in the Northamptonshire countryside. Some of the stories had previously appeared in various other books and periodicals, but 11 were written and published here for the first time, accompanied by Ardizzone’s charming illustrations. Five of the stories see the title character relating past escapades to his rapt nephew, while others simply describe wild adventures, such as Silas winning athletic matches through trickery. In all, they reveal a “racy old countryman…one of the most delightful creations in modern literature, a character rich and full-flavoured as the wine he loved, an embodiment of all the independence, cunning, and passion for the earth which characterizes the English peasant” (Dust jacket). The character of Silas later resurfaces in stories such as those collected together in the 1957 Sugar for the Horse, and the 1961 publication The Vanished World. My Uncle Silas was the fifth work that Ardizzone had illustrated for another writer, and was published still relatively early on in his career, after the publication of his popular ‘Tim’ books, but before his great success as a war artist. Scarce.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good