Bentley, Phyllis ~ Inheritance

First UK Printing : Victor Gollancz Ltd, London: 1932

8vo., black publisher’s cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt; complete in the yellow Gollancz wrapper, lettered in black and priced 8/6 to spine; THE BOOK a very good copy, slightly pushed to spine ends, with a couple of light scratches to edges; one to upper board; THE WRAPPER evenly toned to panels and spine; creased along folds, with creasing and chipping to spine ends and edges, a couple of small nicks/closed tears to the upper edge; very good, still. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition of the author’s best-known work. Lauded by the publishers as ‘one of the finest novels we have ever published’, Inheritance follows the story of the Oldroyd family, and is set against the backdrop of the textile industry in the West Riding of Yorkshire. With 27 main characters, the novel covers 153 years of History, from the Luddite riots of 1812 to the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. It would later become the first in a trilogy, followed by 'The Rise of Henry Morcar' (published 1946) and 'A Man of His Time' (published 1966). Bentley would later write that the story was one of “decency and integrity, courage and compassion... passed down the generations; we are always the heirs of the past and begetters of the future ages. It will be seen that this thought is the meaning of the title Inheritance. It is not material wealth which is meant, but a spiritual heritage.” Phyllis Bentley was born in 1894 in Halifax, Yorkshire. The daughter of a Mill owner, she always had ambitions to become a novelist, and in 1928, after numerous rejections from publishing houses, she obtained a contract with Gollancz. Her first successful novel, The Partnership, appeared the following year. Inheritance gained Bentley critical acclaim, and in 1967 Granada Television began filming a 10-part adaptation starring John Thaw and James Bolam in major roles. By 1946, the novel was on its twenty-third printing, making her the first successful English regional novelist since Thomas Hardy and the Wessex novels. Scarce.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good