Evelyn Waugh first editions
English novelist Evelyn Waugh's (1903-1966) modern first editions are highly collectible, noted for their dust jackets as well as their witty satire of fashionable London society, the English upper classes, and the young intellectuals of the 1920s.
His first publications were Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, 1930, Black Mischief, A Handful of Dust, Scoop, 1938 and The Loved One.
His conversion to Catholicism in 1930 can be observed in the most well-known novel of these early years, Brideshead Revisited, the least satirical of his books.
His experience as a Officer in WW2 provided the material for the trilogy consisting of Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1954), and Unconditional Surrender (1961; U.S. The End of the Battle), whose central character is Guy Crouchback. These books project a more sober view of life, which at times verges on misanthropy.
Collecting Evelyn Waugh Modern First Editions
Waugh first editions can range in value from approximately £100 for titles from the 1950s, to over £10,000 for key titles from the 1920s & '30s. Some first editions have 'issue points', which can have a significant bearing on value, such as the dust-jacket 'masthead' on Scoop (1938), so it is always worth talking to a specialists if you are looking to buy or sell.
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First edition, one of the limited issue, number 183 of 250 large paper copies signed by the author, large 8vo., plates and illustrations by the Author not included in the trade edition, original mauve cloth, fading to spine and margins of boards, printed dust-jacket, spine slightly darkened, some very minor fraying to head and tail of spine, but a near-fine example overall, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, preserved in custom-made slip-case.
£3,200
