The Withered Root

FIRST TRADE EDITION, SIGNED BY AUTHOR. 8vo. Original brown cloth, gilt lettered, black stamped title panel to spine, gilt stamped decoration to upper board. Gentle pushing to spine ends, bump to bottom corner, edges and margins foxed. Inscribed by Davies in black ink to ffep: "Yours sincerely, Rhys Davies.", a number of short closed tears to pages, repair to rear hinge, else, clean. In the wonderful William Roberts illustrated dust jacket: price-clipped, toned and rubbed, nicked and chipped. Good+/ good+ A solid, signed copy of Rhys Davies' first novel, in the striking original dust jacket designed by his friend, the 'English Cubist' William Roberts. Dubbed 'the Welsh Chekhov', Rhys Davies (1901-1978; OBE) was a prolific and prize-winning author, who chronicled working class life, especially of industrial Wales, and women's lives. Davies met Roberts (1895 1980) through The New Coterie Magazine, published by Charles and Esther Lahr. The artist also produced a portrait of the Welsh author, which featured as the frontispiece to his first book, The Song of Songs, a collection of stories published in the same year. Roberts was a signatory of the Vorticist manifesto and his work featured in Blast; he later referred to himself as an 'English Cubist'. With a printed dedication: "To Charles Lahr," who typed the novel up for Davies.…