Olivia; Len DEIGHTON ( illustrator ). My Husband Cartwright.

by MANNING

£250 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

The Eternal Husband MANNING, Olivia; Len DEIGHTON ( illustrator ). My Husband Cartwright. London: Heinemann . 1956. 8vo. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered and bordered in red to spine, with Siamese cat monogram in red to front panel, in the price-clipped dustwrapper designed and illustrated by Len Deighton; pp. 125, [3]; pushing to spine tips, light bumping to lower outer corners, scattered spotting to page block edges, closed tear (c. 2.5 cm) to upper edge of wrapper front panel, light rubbing to extremities, rear panel a little dusty with small area of light abrasion; a very good copy in like wrapper. First edition, first printing, signed by Len Deighton, of this witty portrait of Manning's larger than life husband, R. D. "Reggie" Smith, with Deighton's wonderful drawings featured throughout the book. Published in December 1956, My Husband Cartwright collects twelve sketches which originally appeared in Punch magazine. Although not stated on the wrapper, Cartwright is based on Manning’s own husband, R. D. "Reggie" Smith, a garrulous character, who as a BBC producer, worked closely with Dylan Thomas, Noel Coward, Louis MacNeice, among others. Recently released documents also reveal that he was part of a Communist cell, recruited by Anthony Blunt. Manning’s witty rendering of Smith in My Husband Cartwright predates his fuller portrait – as “Guy Pringle” – in her semi-autobiographical Balkan Trilogy. Cartwright, the jacket tells us, is “an enigma of pure reason, a helpful hindra

• Binding: Hardcover

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