Ideas and Places

London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1953 Hard Cover. 8vo. 280pp. Condition: Very Good with some sunning to covers, in a Fair dust jacket which has chips missing, including a large section of the spine (now protected in mylar). Ghost of a paper-clip to title page, causing small tears to the half-title. ** Signed collection of essays by the great English character, Cyril Connolly (1903 - 1974). An Etonian classmate of George Orwell, under whose shadow he strove, Connolly found his niche as the editor of the literary magazine Horizon, and as the author of the angst-ridden classic about writing classics, The Unquiet Grave (1944). This book contains writings by Connolly, as well as the response to a question as to the "Cost of Letters [i.e. writing]" by a host of writers including Robert Graves, John Betjeman, C.Day Lewis, Laurie Lee, George Orwell, V.S.Pritchett, Stephen Spender and Dylan Thomas. Also is a poem dedicated to Connolly by W.H.Auden, "The Fall of Rome". Signed on front flyleaf: "To dearest Elizabeth, with love from Cyril. 'Blessed are the botanists for they shall inherit a rich fibrous loam'. Provenance: By descent, from the library of Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner (1899-1983) and his second wife Lady Elizabeth (née Powell), who were friends with various writers including Cyril Connolly, Stephen Spender and Anthony Powell. They were parents to the author Emma Tennant and Lord Glenconner's siblings included Edward Wyndham Tennant and Stephen Tennant. . Signed by author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good-/Fair.