DUNN, Nell ~ The Only Child. A simple story of Heaven and Hell. Signed by the author in the year of publication.

FIRST EDITION. Jonathan Cape, London: 1978

8vo., dark blue boards, lettered in gilt to backstrip with publisher’s device to foot; upper edge stained blue; pale yellow endpapers; in the original unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (£3.95 net) featuring an illustration by Ron Bowen; THE BOOK essentially a fine copy, just a couple of very faint spots and marks; the near-fine WRAPPER just a little toned, with a couple of dirt marks and creases along folds. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, signed by the author and dated in the year of publication to the half title. Dunn’s writing was inspired greatly by her own lifestyle and experiences. Born in Chelsea to wealthy baronet Philip Dunn and Lady Mary Sybil, she led a life of privilege in her formative years and counted, amongst her friends and acquaintances, such figures as Cecil Beaton, Antony Blunt, Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon. In time, she began to write extensively on female relationships, motherhood, and the concept of money. Her first full-length novel Poor Cow (1967) caused a scandal when she wrote candidly about the nature of sex work and its relation to income. In The Only Child, she turns her attention to the upper classes, this time focusing on a rich protagonist, Esther Lafonte, and explores how the idea of money can be isolating from everyday life. The Only Child remains one of Dunn’s lesser-known works. Scarce signed.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Fine
JACKET: Near Fine