The Fool and His Heart. Being the plainly told Story of Basil Thimm.

£540 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A presentation copy, inscribed by the author with a serio-comic corruption of his name: “Bromley, Kent, 14th May 1900. My Dear Campbell, this copy of The Fool I found among my books today when I came down specially to Bromley to look for other things. It is, or was, the last copy of the 1st English edition to leave the hands of the publisher; and I present it to you as a generous patron of literature and the polite arts – such as cake-eating – with the assurance of my devotion–the most profound. Ever, my dear Campbell, your very obliged obedient Conalus Cunctator.” It seems likely that the recipient is O’Riordan’s friend the art historian Campbell Dodgson, who was also close to the book’s dedicatee Ernest Dowson. Extremities of spine lightly rubbed, areas of wear. Good copy.

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