NEW WRITING - NEW SERIES 1 Autumn 1938 (First edition in the scarce pre-war dustwrapper)

First printing of the true first edition, published in 1938 - the first of three volumes of New Writing published by The Hogarth Press - each volume edited by John Lehmann, Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender. With eight pages of photographic plates, chosen and arranged with the assistance of Humphrey Spender. ***Very good in pale-yellow cloth-covered boards with dark-blue titles to the spine and front board. The boards show some rubbing and marks commensurate with age and handling, but are generally clean. Edges of boards slightly rubbed. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Page block edges nice and clean, with the top edge stained green by the publisher, now gently faded. The fore-edge is untrimmed. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Internally near fine, with no previous ownership inscriptions, but with an attractive bookplate from John Bernard Kilfeather on the front pastedown. No off-setting or foxing to the endpapers, and the interior pages are also clean and unmarked. No foxing. No creases or tears. ***In a very good typographical dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of 6s. net. The dustwrapper is complete, with just some very slight loss at the top and tail of the spine and corner tips. Edges of dustwrapper slightly creased and rubbed, with a couple of small closed tears. There is a small splash-stain on the front panel, and some overall browning to the dustwrapper. The spine is unfaded. ***240 pages. 224mm x 150mm. ***'It is now three years since "New Writing" was launched, and four or five since a small group of writers began to discuss the outlines of the project among themselves. --- Since the publication of the first number, the trend of events in Europe, and the world, has given "New Writing" an even greater significance for the younger writers, and at the same time the very fact of its existence has encouraged a new kind of writer to come forward. Both these developments have stimulated interest in fresh aspects not only of literature but also of the other arts, and "New Writing" found that further needs were arising which demanded to be met as urgently as the old. It is for this reason that with the present number a New Series has been inaugurated with several additional features to extend its scope: "New Writing" believes that a living publication should grow as life itself grows and changes.' (Quote taken from the editors' Foreword) ***First printing of the true first edition, published in 1938, with a complete original dustwrapper. Uncommon thus. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…