Nancy Mitford: Signed (18 results)
Published by London : Frances Lincoln, 2002
- Hardcover
- Signed
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.MW Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
Original price: US$ 75.6015% offCurrent price: US$ 64.26
Free ShippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketReprint. Presentation copy. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description: 1 volume;; 20 cm, Subjects; Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and esp…ecially sharp-cornered. 1 Kg.
Published by London : Frances Lincoln, 2002
- Hardcover
- Signed
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, IrelandMW Books Ltd.
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 57.49
US$ 16.22 shippingShips from Ireland to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketReprint. Presentation copy. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description: 1 volume;; 20 cm, Subjects; Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and esp…ecially sharp-cornered. 1 Kg.
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by The Folio Society, London, 1991
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Galbraith Rare Books, London, United KingdomGalbraith Rare Books
Contact seller4-star sellerCondition: Used - Fine
US$ 121.23
US$ 60.88 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 2 vols. Hardcover. First editions thus. Fine. Housed in fine slipcases. Love in a Cold Climate - 1992, introduced by Pauline Tennant. The Pursuit of Love - 1991, introduced by Hugo Vickers. Both signed by illustrator Roland Pym. Roland Pym (illustrator). Signed by Illustrator(s).
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by UK, 1946
- Softcover
- First Edition
- Signed
- Manuscript / Paper Collectible
Seller: Lasting Words Ltd, Northampton, UK, United KingdomLasting Words Ltd
Contact seller5-star sellerAssociation member: PBFA
Condition: Used - Good
US$ 418.03
US$ 26.99 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketPaper. Condition: Good. First Edition. An Original Handwritten and Signed Letter from Nancy Mitford to the daughter of Ottoline Morrell Julian Morrell. Dated 1946. An interesting letter from Nancy discussing friendship matters, visits from certain people and the grumbling state of France just after the war. Julian Vinogradoff (n…ée Morrell) (1906-1989), Former wife of Sir Victor Goodman, and later wife of Igor Vinogradoff. English aristocrat, the daughter of Lady Ottoline Morrell. Her twin brother Hugh died of a brain hemorrhage three days after their birth. Julian Morrell first married Sir Victor Goodman, and later married Igor Vinogradoff. She died on 6 December 1989.Nancy Freeman-Mitford 1904 - 1973 was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London social scene in the inter-war period. She wrote several novels about upper-class life in England and France and is considered a sharp and often provocative wit. Mitford's visit to France in late 1945 had revived her longing to be there, and in April 1946, having given up working in the shop the previous month, she left London to make her permanent home in Paris and never lived in England again. During her first 18 months in Paris, Mitford lived in several short-term lodgings while she enjoyed a hectic social life, the hub of which was the British Embassy under the regime of the ambassador, Duff Cooper, and his socialite wife, Lady Diana Cooper. Eventually Mitford found a comfortable apartment, with a maid, at No. 7 rue Monsieur on the Left Bank, close to Palewski's residence. She lived in the 7th Arrondisement on the Left Bank. "A very charming flat between the courtyard and the garden," was how she described her French home. "The days go by and I have no desire to move from my house and garden." Her sister Diana Mosley said, "As soon as possible, in 1945, she got a flat in Paris, where she lived for 20 happy years." She never lived in England again. Nancy wrote to her mother, "I am so completely happy here… I feel a totally different person as if I had come out of a coalmine into daylight… Oh my passion for the French!" . Size is 204mm x 125mm. Condition is good. Light folding crease. Ref 19237. Signed by Author(s).
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by Hamish Hamilton and the Book Society, London, 1949
- Hardcover
- Signed
Seller: Henry Pordes Books Ltd, London, United KingdomHenry Pordes Books Ltd
Contact seller5-star sellerAssociation member: PBFA
Condition: Used - Very good
US$ 1,672.12
US$ 20.29 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Hardcover 8vo in red cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine, in illustrated dust jacket. In very good condition, some edge wear, chipping to DJ edges, jacket discoloured, price clipped, foxing and toning to edge of page block and light foxing throughout, owner's inscri…ption on ffep. Flat signed by the author on the title page. Book Society edition, 5th impression. Signed by Author(s).
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by HAMISH HAMILTON, LONDON, 1949
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Elder Books, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, United KingdomElder Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
US$ 2,438.51
US$ 16.17 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. BOOK SOCIETY ISSUE. HARDBACK BOUND IN A RECENT FULL LEATHER BINDING WITH A CUSTOM MADE CLOTH SLIPCASE, HALF TITLE, MARBLED ENDPAPERS, SIGNED BY NANCY MITFORD TO TITLE PAGE. MEASURES APPROX 8 x 5 INCHES SOME STAINING TO BOTTOM PAGE MARGINS FROM PAGES 10 - 30 WITH PAGES 14 -… 18 BEING THE WORST EXAMPLES [SEE IMAGE] SOME OCCASIONAL FOXING OR MINOR MARKS TO PAGES WITH FOXING TO PAGE FORE-EDGES EXTERNALLY IN NEAR FINE CONDITION, INTERNALLY GOOD - VERY GOOD CONDITION. EXTRA POSTAGE COSTS MAY APPLY TO OVERSEAS ORDERS. ALL BOOKS POSTED IN STURDY BOOK BOX. Signed by Author(s).
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by Crescent Books, 1966
- Hardcover
- Signed
Seller: The Cary Collection, Bristol, CT, U.S.A.The Cary Collection
Contact seller4-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
US$ 1,400.00
US$ 15.00 shippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. MITFORD, Nancy Envelope letter addressed to Jacques-Louis Francine Esq 2828 Darby Road Ardmore PA w/ double-faced letter written by Nancy Mitford dated 23 Feb 67 on her stationery w/ 4 rue d'Antois 78 Versailles: Dear Sir, thank you very much indeed for writing.…I am most sorry and ashamed to have slaughtered your family in this manner and all will be corrected and just in order in the future editions (French & Italian are not yet out and various paper backs are being prepared) [255] pp. Crescent Books 1966 10 1/4" x 8" This deservedly famous book brings a glittering century to life, taking as its subject Louis XIV at Versailles from the moment he decided to transform his father s hunting lodge into the greatest palace in Europe, to his death there 54 years later. Focusing on the daily life of the King, the Court and the government during the period of France s apogee of military power and artistic achievement, this lavishly illustrated book covers the course of Louis XIV s love affairs, culminating in his secret marriage to Madame de Maintenon, the affair of the poison, the creation of St. Cyr, Lord Portland s embassy and the marriage of the Duchess of Bourgogne. *rear hinge exposed/ endpaper loss*. Inscribed by Author(s).
More imagesPublished by Harper & Row, 1962
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Montecito Rare Books, Goleta, CA, U.S.A.Montecito Rare Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Good
US$ 750.00
US$ 8.00 shippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. Good+; rubbing/bumping to extremities, with fraying to crown and upper forecorners; slight tanning to endpapers; slight offsetting from tipped-in stationery and newspaper articles; else Fine. Hinges sound, spine straight, pages clean and bright except as noted…. In a Fair dust jacket, not price-clipped; torn in half up the middle of the spine; worn/chipped to edges and folds; tanning to spine and folds; light soil; in a brodart sleeve. First Edition. Tipped in to flyleaf is piece of blue 8x6 inch stationery with letterhead "40A Hill Street, Berkeley Square" and dated 27 Oct '55, hand-written on both sides, from Nancy Mitford to Berta Ruck: "Dear Miss Ruck - I'm terribly sorry not to have answered sooner - I mislaid your kind letter & it has this moment turned up again! I agree it's a good thing if the young can be made to think about words. My great grandmother used to say Mothers are the guardians of the English language. But they aren't guarding it closely enough, in my views! Thank you very much for writing. Yours sincerely, Nancy Mitford." Tipped in to front pastedown is a German picture-postcard sent from Paris to Miss Berta Ruck in Aberdovey [Aberdyfi], Wales and postmarked 1966: "Thank you so much for your kind words & good wishes - I was so pleased to hear from you. Nancy Mitford." Amy Roberta ('Berta') Ruck (1878-1978) was a popular and prolific romantic novelist. She produced numerous novels, short stories and serials, as well as several autobiographical works. Tipped in to the half-title page is a newspaper or magazine review of "The Water Beetle"; tipped in to facing page is a short biographical note about Mitford, possibly from the same source. The dedication page has a gift inscription of a later owner, dated in 1994. Signed by Author(s). Book.
More imagesPublished by Thornton Butterworth, 1930
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Tindley and Everett, ABA, London, United KingdomTindley and Everett, ABA
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
US$ 1,741.79
US$ 31.12 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Pink flecked cloth. Hinges at front and rear partially cracked, otherwise nice copy. Inscribed "Nina and Derek with love, Nancy." Nina Ogilvie-Grant, cousin of Mark, and friend of Nancy, had married Derek Studley-Herbert in 1930. With the slightly marked bookplate of Edwar…d Wasserman designed by Marie Laurencin. The author's scarce first book, even scarcer inscribed. Inscribed by Author(s).
More imagesPublished by Thornton Butterworth, 1932
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: First and Fine, Ludlow, United KingdomFirst and Fine
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Near fine
US$ 870.90
US$ 37.88 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Nancy Mitford (1932) 'Christmas Pudding', UK first edition, first printing, published by Thornton Butterworth. Together with an original handwritten and signed letter by Nancy Mitford. Condition of the book: A near fine book without the dust jacket. Clean throughout withou…t any previous owner's scribbles, no bookplates, no stamps. No foxing; internally clean. Nicely preserved cloth boards. A lovely copy which would fetch a few thousands more with the dust jacket. The letter: one sheet, two pages; written on Mitford's stationary bearing her Versailles address. Dated 9 Sept, 1968. Written to Brian Pearce, a linguist and academic who remained friends with Mitford until her death in 1973. In very good condition with light handling wear and usual central fold to fit an envelope. Please refer to our images for content. First and Fine. Signed by Author(s).
More imagesPublished by Hamish Hamilton, 1957
- Hardcover
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: The Cary Collection, Bristol, CT, U.S.A.The Cary Collection
Contact seller4-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
US$ 750.00
US$ 15.00 shippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. MITFORD, Nancy SIGNED by the author: Paris 1957 on half-title page [288] pp. Hamish Hamilton 1957 8 3/8" x 5 7/8" Jacket design by Cecil Beaton Voltaire in Love is a popular history of the sixteen-year relationship between Voltaire and the Émilie, th…e Marquise du Châtelet. Written by Nancy Mitford and first published in 1957, the book also explores the French Enlightenment. In March 1729 Voltaire was allowed to go back to France. In spite of his love for England, he had become homesick; like many a Frenchman, he could not stand the austerity. In well-to-do houses, according to him, there was no silver on the table; tallow candles were burnt by all but the very rich; the food everywhere was uneatable. The arts of society, the art of pleasing were hardly cultivated and social life very dull compared with that in France. Furthermore, the weather did not suit his "unhappy machine". He often said that his unhappy machine demanded a Southern climate but that "between the countries where one sweats and those where one thinks, he was obliged to choose the latter.". Signed by Author(s).
More imagesPublished by N, N, 1940
- Signed
Seller: Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaKay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 370.81
US$ 26.00 shippingShips from Australia to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketstamped and postmarked Paris, 1964, coloured pictorial postcard of the Cathedral Saint-Etienne, Meaux, with autograph message and address on reverse. The brief text contains a couple of typical Mitford barbs: 'Must send you this as its so pretty I think. Horrible Spears was on the (Fr) TV last night[.] I longed to join in & say…the man is a famous ul Germanulnone , [next word deliberately blotted out] called Spiers. I say Debo has asked "Uncle Harold" for Xmas so you see she's not as black as I painted her. Fond love N'. *Nancy Mitford (1904endash 1973), English novelist, biographer, and journalist. Ava Anderson, Viscountess Waverley (1895endash 1974) was an influential English political and social hostess. Sir Edward Spears (1886endash 1974) was a British Army officer and politician who served as a liaison officer between the British and French in both World Wars. In 1918 he changed the spelling of his surname from Spiers to Spears. In 1940 he was instrumental in bringing General de Gaulle to England, to establish the Free French forces, but their relationship later soured. (This would not have endeared him to Nancy, whose beloved 'Colonel', Gaston Pelewski, was a close associate of de Gaulle. In a review in the Daily Mail of Spears' autobiography, Assignment to Catastrophe, she described the book as 'truly poisonous'). Debo was Nancy's youngest sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, and "Uncle Harold" was former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, her uncle by marriage. Signed.
More imagesPublished by London Hamish Hamilton 1945, 1945
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: John Atkinson Books ABA ILAB PBFA, Harrogate, United KingdomJohn Atkinson Books ABA ILAB PBFA
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 24,385.13
US$ 29.76 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketA set of first editions of Mitford's masterpiece, The Radlett Trilogy. All three are first edition, first printings. Comprising: 'The Pursuit of Love': A very good book without inscriptions - some tanning to the pages due to the cheap War Time paper used. In a very good unclipped which has a small chip to the rear panel and a fa…int stamp to the front flap - some wear to the spine and edges. Signed presentation inscription from the author to Alvilde Lees-Milne, to front free endpaper, ownership inscription of the recipient to last free endpaper. Alvilde Lees-Milne (1909-94) was was a British expert in gardening and landscape design. She was married to Anthony Chaplin, hereditary peer and amateur zoologist, from 1933-1950 and then to the writer James Lees-Milne from 1951 until her death in 1994. During the 1930s James Lees-Milne had been the lover of Harold Nicolson. Both Harold and his wife Vita Sackville-West acted as witnesses at the Lees-Milnes' wedding. In the 1950s Sackville-West and Alvilde Lees-Milne had an affair and Alvilde worked on Vita's famous garden at Sissinghurst. Alvilde moved in literary circles and was good friends with many writers such as Nancy Mitford and Somerset Maugham. James Lees-Milne and Nancy's brother, Tom Mitford, were lovers while at Eton College. The inscription in the present volume predates Alvilde's marriage to James by six years and her ownership signature is under her name when she was married to her previous husband Anthony Chaplin. 'Love In A Cold Climate': A first edition, first printing published by Hamish Hamilton in 1949. A very good book without inscriptions - SIGNED and inscribed to 'Roland Carpenter/from Nancy Mitford' to the front endpaper with a small patch of rubbing just under the inscription - Carpenter's bookplate to the front pastedown. With a little dulling to the gilt titles on the spine. In a very good unclipped wrapper with wear and loss to the corners. A small professional internal repair to the top of the front panel. Some chipping to the spine tips and corners. Some creasing. 'Don't Tell Alfred': A first edition, first printing published by Hamish Hamilton. A near fine book inscribed on the half-title by Mitford 'Mrs Phelps/with love from/Nancy'. In a very good unclipped wrapper with one or two small closed tears to the edges. Mrs Phelps, as outlined in Deborah Devonshire's biography, was a neighbour who lived close to the Mitfords in Mill Cottage. The trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fanny Logan. Although a comedy, the story has tragic overtones. Rarely offered as a set.
More imagesNoblesse Oblige: An Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy
Mitford, Nancy; Osbert Lancaster [Illustrator], Evelyn Waugh; John Betjeman; et al.
Published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1956
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Near fine
US$ 3,800.00
Free ShippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketCondition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. First edition, first printing. Association copy signed by Nancy Mitford on the half-title page and inscribed to Alvilde Lees-Milne. 114 pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth-affect paper-covered boards, spine lettered in silver. Near Fine with foxing to textbloc…k edges, endpapers, and prelims. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light wear, toning, and foxing. In 1955 the novelist Nancy Mitford published an article called "The English Aristocracy" on the identifying characters of the upper class to which she belonged. One year later, after a lively public debate, Mitford and her friends published this short collection of essays (and one poem) on the subject, illustrated by the cartoonist and set designer Osbert Lancaster. The prominent gardener Alvilde Lees-Milne, formerly Viscountess Chaplin, was a yet another close friend of Mitford, who once described her as "saintly." They all belonged to the intimate and exclusive world examined in this humorous little work of linguistic analysis and anthropology. Signed.
More imagesPublished by Hamish Hamilton, London, 1966
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Near fine
US$ 1,400.00
Free ShippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketCondition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. First edition, first printing. A wonderful association copy signed by Nancy Mitford on the half-title page and inscribed to Alvilde and James Lees-Milne dated 21 May 1967. 255 pp, illustrated. Bound in publisher's red cloth stamped in gilt. Near Fine with fox…ing to cloth-affect and text block edges, contents lightly toned and occasionally foxed. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light wear, several scratches to the rear panel and light foxing to the blindside. Mitford's witty and well-researched homage to the Grand Dauphin, the self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV, and his gilded cage court members. A fun read littered with anecdotes that presents the reader with a gossip column-like perspective on one of history's most scandalous monarchs.The prominent landscape designer Alvilde Lees-Milne, formerly Viscountess Chaplin, was a friend of Nancy Mitford via her second husband. James Lees-Milne, wrote numerous biographies and books on architecture but was best known for his diaries, was intimately connected with the Mitford siblings, having been a lover of Tom Mitford when the two were at Eton College. Signed.
More imagesPublished by London: Hamish Hamilton, 1962, 1962
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United KingdomPeter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB.
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 1,741.79
US$ 29.76 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketFirst edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title "Alvilde, with love from Nancy", with Alvilde Lees-Milne's ownership inscription on the front free endpaper. Mitford and the celebrated gardener Lees-Milne (1909-1994) were close friends from the time of the latter's first marriage (which was dissolved i…n 1950) until the former's death. Octavo. Frontispiece and 5 plates printed on brown paper. Original red and black cloth, spine lettered in silver. With dust jacket. Spine gently cocked, intermittent foxing; jacket unclipped, spine panel a touch toned, front panel bright, light foxing, edges nicked. A very good copy in like jacket.
More imagesPublished by London: Hamish Hamilton, 1954, 1954
- First Edition
- Signed
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United KingdomPeter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB.
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 1,393.44
US$ 29.76 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketFirst edition, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Miss Elliot Lynch, with best wishes from Nancy Mitford". This marks Mitford's first venture into biographical writing. Mitford (1904-1973) moved to Paris, after the success of her novels The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949), where she wro…te and published Madame de Pompadour. The historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote in the Manchester Guardian: "All who admired The Pursuit of Love will be delighted to hear that its characters have appeared again, this time in fancy dress. They now claim to be leading figures in French history, revolving round Louis XV and his famous mistress, Madame de Pompadour. In reality they still belong to that wonderful never-never land of Miss Mitford's invention". Octavo. Illustrated frontispiece and 20 plates. Original blue boards, titles to spine in silver, top edge red. With dust jacket by Cecil Beaton. Gentle lean to sunned spine, faint damp stain, minor bumps to extremities; unclipped jacket chipped, very slightly affecting text at head of spine, a couple of short closed tears, extremities rubbed, front panel bright: a very good copy in like jacket.
More images- Signed
Seller: John Atkinson Books ABA ILAB PBFA, Harrogate, United KingdomJohn Atkinson Books ABA ILAB PBFA
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
US$ 13,586.00
US$ 29.76 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketComprising 27 autograph letters signed, "Nancy Mitford," "Nancy Rodd," "Nancy" and "N," 13 autograph postcards signed, and 1 autograph card signed, with envelopes, written from Paris, Versailles and elsewhere between 24 August 1961 and 20 October 1971. Together with 2 typed letters from Kay Gaudin, a small group of related newsp…aper cuttings, and a first edition signed copy of Charlotte Mosley's Love from Nancy, in dust wrapper, for which the archive was used as source material. A remarkable and highly revealing archive, tracing Mitford's relationship with Gaudin from professional typist to trusted friend and literary assistant. The letters centre on the typing, revision and publication of Mitford's historical works, particularly Frederick the Great, and include editorial instructions, historical corrections and references to Fredersdorf, Winterfeldt and other figures from Frederick's circle. Of particular interest are a series of editorial memoranda for Frederick the Great, preserving Mitford's revisions and historical corrections in her own hand, and offering direct evidence of her working methods. The correspondence also contains vivid autobiographical material from the final decade of Mitford's life. She writes with characteristic humour of daily life in Versailles, literary engagements, domestic mishaps, travel, publishers, reviews, television appearances, family, health and illness. In one typically comic domestic aside she notes: "A plastic bag full of cow manure is drying on the bathroom radiator, for my pot plants." Later letters record, with striking candour, the illness that would dominate her last years: "I'm to see the surgeon next Thurs: I only wish it could have been sooner & then I shall know when & where the chopping is to take place," and, after surgery, "they have sawn me in ½ but I never felt much & the agony of my back went at once." Other letters refer to her sister Pamela, faith healers, the practicalities of publication, and the everyday movement between Versailles and London. The archive is rich in wit, affection and personality, while also documenting the composition of Mitford's final major historical biography. An unusually desirable literary archive, combining unpublished autobiographical material, important editorial evidence, and a warm record of one of the twentieth century's most celebrated writers in the closing years of her life and career.
