Hill Devi E M by Forster, First Edition (2 results)

Cloth. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Photos (illustrator). First American Edition. 8vo, green cloth with gilt lettering on spine, archival polyester-protected dark blue pictorial dust jacket (clipped) with dark image of the Hill of Devi; illustrated with 8 pages of B&W glossy photos taken & a diagram [p.34]; twilight photo of the Hill as endpapers, 267 pages. E[dward] M[organ] Forster OM CH (1879 - 1970) was an English fiction writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examine class difference and hypocrisy, including A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). The last novel, which built upon his experiences with the Maharajah of Dewas, India, brought him his greatest success. Forster was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. UNCOMMON title by Forster. Collects the author's commentary and letters from his two visits to the Maharah: as a house guest; later as his Private Secretary. These profound experiences as a privileged colonial with important connections to the disappearing rajahs inform Forster's masterpiece, A Passage to India. Slight wear to the cloth and clipped dust jacket (mainly along its lower edges). No previous owner's markings.

Hardcover. Dust Jacket Condition: dj. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, 176 pages; VG/VG; spine orange with blue titling, dust jacket protected with a mylar covering, price cut, mild fading to spine, mild wear and rubbing, primarily to extremities; Neat pencil note on the ffep, reading "with a 2 pp. note by Roger Senhouse describing one of Forster's Homosexual Affairs." Signed below the note in blue pencil by Roger Senhouse.; With two letters loose within, one from Roger Senhouse describing Forster's affairs in India in salacious detail, and one from Forster during WWII involving the Royal Air Force.; 2 page Autograph Letter Signed on one leaf of beige paper, dated 26-7-42. Written by Forster to a Bill and signed 'Morgan', with two horizontal folds and minor wear to extremities. Bill has apparently recently joined the R.A.F, and much of the letter is Forster discussing social engagements.; ".all of this silly "breaking" seems such a waste of the national effort. I had hoped the R.A.F. was beyond it, but it seems no more sensible today than when T.E. Lawrence pilloried it in The Mint - I always wished he would have published that exposure of N.C.O. mentality. I am sure it would have done good, but he was afraid of Lord Trenchard."; 2 page Autograph Letter on one leaf of blue/green paper, dated 22/3/54, with dense writing by Roger Senhouse describing one of Forster's affairs. One horizontal fold, very mild wear to extremities; "Hill of Devi. Dinner at the Savile, to welcome Ragnar Svanström as a member. He was dining with Meyer, who was 1/4 hour late, so he sat between A. D. Peters & Charles ???, delighted to be so affably received. I settled Down at the round table with John Morris, who told me - after a night's visit to King's to hear the 3rd Prog St. John Passion - that ??? has received very few votes for his Provost election, but that he had stayed up till 3 am with E.M.F. who had told him the story of Dewas Senior. I had been shown Morgan's 2 letters apropos his ??? in ???, ??? ??? ??? based on a fine knowledge of character. What had baffled us both was why the adjective 'saintly' had been used of his unworthy ??? "Did you get the answer?" "I will tell you all after dinner." It started like this. "Did you know that anything definite - in the way of an affair, I mean - had occurred in Morgan's life before Bob?" "Yes, he told Lytton, but it was a dead secret. Twice the subject came up and I remembered leaning over the Bachs, on the bridge, till Clare was indelibly imprinted on my mind, without being made aware of what had occurred. I only know it was in India." "Well, he read me the whole account, unlocking a little cabinet to extract the diary. Then I spent another 2 hours writing it down. You must not repeat [not repeat underlined] what I shall briefly recount. M must have been about 40. The weather was very hot and he became more and more sexually excited for academics, perhaps because there was no person who had attracted him. However masturbation was of no avail. He wanted physical contact and companionship, yet his hunger was as acute as his sexual distress. At last he found a young man of about 15 with whom he made a date - to meet outside the palace, on a road, at 7 p.m. Little did he know that his advances had been the subject, for some little time, of speculation in the bazaars. The boy was a braggart & no doubt he had enquired what he should ask in exchange for this strange friendship with the Sahib. Rumors of this betrayal reached M's ear and he took umbrage. For several days he pondered. Should he go to his master? He did not keep the appointment, but punched up sufficient courage to broach the subject. He was politely received - to his surprise, sympathetically. It was not properly understood, he thought, but quite suddenly he was informed that one of the ??? had a bastard son who was so inclined. "Leave it to me - all will be well" An appointment was arranged. Mutual dislike and antipathy was manifest from the start. And hence the matter was dropped. Not so very much later, Signed.