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MEDHURST, JOAN: : A FRAGMENT OF BEAUTY. [Author SIGNED copy.]

LONDON.HURSTAND BLACKETT LIMITED,1955.l

ISBN No ISBN.

UK,12mo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.VG+/VG.No owner inscrptn but author's handwritten lengthy black ink inscrptn: 'To my dear friends at The Blind Club with affection Joan Medhurst.' to reverse of half-title page and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,matt,pale blue+white colour pictorial artwork illustrated dw/dj with black+red lettering to front+spine,rear panel with lightly grubbed white background with author's b/w portrait photograph and potted biography - commensurate with book's; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners.Corner tips rubbed,front lower and rear top corners each with a closed tear and minimal loss,at head of spine/ backstrip both gutters with a closed tear each but with minimal loss,whilst foot of same has a small portion missing - partially affecting publisher's name letters.Evidence of previous attempted sellotape repairs to spine/backstrip both internally and to exterior of dw/dj by residual 'ghosts' in situ.Top+fore-edges both with sporadic foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean - text body virtually foxing-free,being restricted in the main,to it's pages' top+fore edges, solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered - exception of front lower,minimally bumped and creased corner,publisher's original plain wine cloth bds with bright,crisp, stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip, and clean plain white eps - verso+recto of rear free endpaper with minimal foxing which has bled back through to the last four pages.UK,12mo HB+dw/dj,author SIGNED, 1st edn,9-288pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,Books 1-3 comprising 7,3 and 3 chronological chapters (1940- 1952) respectively,plus [unpaginated] half-title with author's SIGNED,inscribed reverse,title page,a dedication,author's note,and individual Books' separator pages. Author's debut novel and a particularly uncommon UK issue,and more so,to find so warmly dedicated and signed. A child orphaned and disfigured by a German bomb and adopted by the young almoner of a great hospital for plastic surgery is the central character and the motivating force of a memorable first novel. "A fragment of beauty contains the whole," said Rodin. Julie's beauty is indestructible,as the almoner,the surgeon,the fireman who saved her and the nurses who look after her come to recognise; but the havoc wrought in her face by the beam that crushed it ill be with her through all her growing years and will never wholly be repaired.How will she fare at school and in public? What special,sometimes agonizing,problems will the single girl who has adopted her have to face? The novel tells of Julie's story from 1940 to her fifteenth birthday in 1952. Equally it is the story of Anna Monckton the almoner,Geoffrey Derrington,her errant lover,Hugh Lockhart the surgeon,and the great and growing hospital which is the hub of Julie's existence and of theirs. Since April 2013 and again in March 2015, and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,12mo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.
'To my dear friends at The Blind Club with affection Joan Medhurst.'

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