L. P. Simonetta Perkins.

by HARTLEY

£1,000 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

Hartley's first novel, inscribed HARTLEY, L.P. Simonetta Perkins. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, Ltd. 1925. 8vo. Original cloth-backed marbled paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt to spine; outer edges untrimmed; pp. [ix], 2-151, [1]; edges of boards a little rubbed, with a couple of small stains to cloth; endpapers browned and offset, one or two roughly cut to the outer edge; mildly toned throughout but else fairly clean; small abrasion to p. [i], possibly due to sticker being removed. First edition of Hartley's first novel, inscribed by the author to p. [i] "Oliver from Leslie with my love" and dated in the year of publication, December 1925. The plot centres around a young Bostonian woman, who is visiting Venice with her overbearing mother. Tiring of her family's attempts to find her a suitable suitor, her attentions quickly turn to a handsome gondolier. Although considered by Hartley to be the most accomplished of his works, it was by no means his most successful. Published just one year after his first book ( Night Fears , a collection of short stories), Simonetta Perkins earned the author just £12, although it was written about favourably. The Saturday Review called the young writer "one of the most hopeful talents", and The Calendar of Modern Letters said that Simonetta Perkins was a "distinguished first novel". Modern critics have called it his most dangerous, as Hartley explored infatuation and sexuality in a way considered less respectable at the time of writing. Ind

• Binding: Hardcover

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