A History Maker [Book, with interesting postcard, inscribed warmly to Gray's first literary agent].

GRAY, Alasdair

Published by Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 1994

About this Item

GRAY, Alasdair. A History Maker. Edinburgh: Canongate 1994. Inscribed warmly and at length to his first agent Zandra Hardie by the author: TO AUNT ZANDRA, With thanks for advice/ which helped me make the/ first chapter leaner and fitter/ Alasdair/ 15 November/1994/ P.S. This book looks better/ without the dust jacket . Laid in is a postcard of a Gertrude Degenhardt harp player with birds on the front and a note from Gray to Zandra Hardie, his agent, on the back. The note covers a number of subjects including a contract, I assume for the History Maker, Yes you are right the contract has engendered wasteful fuss which has made Gray feeling, like a mulberry bush which my friend Stephanie (Stephanie Wolfe Murray, the co-founder of Canongate, the publisher of his first novel, Lanark.) has got round . . . he expresses no ill-will on this point however rather expressing concern for her and hope that the shadows under her eyes. . .may fade now Canongate has young Mr Byng at the helm or prow or pumps: probably all three. Canongate had been in financial difficulties until Jamie Byng waved his magic silver spoon at it and the Life of Pi thumbed out a plum. The note also broaches the subject of his Anthology, where he laments he will probably have to write another novel before he is likely to feel financial secure enough to tackle, the completion of something so big . Indeed Gray had to write the short novel 'Mavis Belfrage', published in 1996 before he finally completed his anthology, 'The Book of Prefaces', in 2000. Postcard in fine condition; Book and dj in Fine condition. Note: Xandra Hardie became Alasdair Gray s literary agent in 1988, and began by taking over negotiations with Jonathan Cape over the publication of Something Leather. In 1993 Gray would dedicate his book of stories, Ten Tales Tall and True, equally to Zandra Hardie, Tom Maschler and his wife Morag McAlpine. The Dedication reads: To the onelie begetters of these stories. Tom Maschler and Zandra Hardie and Morag McAlpine .

Seller Inventory # ABE-1744204935380

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A History Maker [Book, with interesting postcard, inscribed warmly to Gray's first literary agent].
• Publisher: Edinburgh: Canongate Books
• Publication Date: 1994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Scottish Literature