All the Conspirators

1928. London, Jonathan Cape, 1928. 8vo. Attractively rebound in olive green morocco, title gilt to spine; pp.255; a little fading along the spine, some very occasional foxing, an very good copy in a simple but skilled binding, with an authorial inscription to "the Governor" on page 1. First edition. Isherwood's first novel, which he began at the age of 21, which depicts generational struggle and the slow deterioration of middle-class English life in the wake of the First World War. In his later fictionalized autobiography Down There On A Visit", Isherwood describes the reception of his novel as a 'flop', perhaps accounting for its relative scarcity in the Isherwood canon. Even rarer still, this particular copy is inscribed to "The Governor", or Andre Mangeot, the French violinist who gave Isherwood his first job, introduced him to Stephen Spender, and provided him a home in which to write the novel. Presentation copies of this work are rare, and sought after by collectors of his work, but even amongst the few known copies made out to colleagues, friends and associates, this is a particularly early example (dated May 1928). The full inscription reads "To the Governor, from his affectionate ex-secretary, the author — to remind him of happy days with the mud-coloured file."