8vo. 159pp. Original publisher's burgundy cloth boards lettered in gilt, with the unclipped dustwrapper. Significant smoke damage to wrapper, with additional staining and tearing; the book has also held the odour of smoke. With the author's inscription 'For My good Lady Olwyn Love Paul' to half-title. From the estate of Olwyn Hughes, recently dispersed.

Paul Ableman (1927-2006) was an English playwright, poet, and novelist. This is his third novel.

Olwyn Hughes (1928-2016) was a translator, agent and literary executor who had worked in Paris for NATO, Martonplay, and King Peter II of Yugoslavia, among others. After the death of her sister-in-law Sylvia Plath, she returned to England to assist her brother, Ted Hughes, raise his young children, though also took over the management of both his career and Plath's literary estate. While she did have some other clients as a literary agent, including Jean Rhys, much of the rest of her life was dedicated to preserving - and defending - both Plath and Hughes.