JORDAN, Humfrey.

£400 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Tide Still Flowing. First edition, with typescript letters signed by the author and publisher addressed to the illustrator, Ethel "Bip" Pares, laid in, discussing the jacket design and urgency of the project. Pares was an Art Deco illustrator who designed book covers for authors such as Nancy Mitford, posters for London Transport, and maps during the Second World War.The first letter, dated 30 July 1940, is from Robert Percy Hodder-Williams (1880-1958) to Pares (1904-1977). He praises her jacket for Sea Way Only (1937) - "the unbeatable Jordan wrapper" - and asks if she might illustrate the jacket for Tide Still Flowing and, if time allows, provide five line-drawn vignettes. He stresses the need for speed - "we must not hold up production" - and describes the work as "very much a man's book, pretty strong meat, I think, and fine stuff."The second letter, dated 8 August 1940, is from Jordan (1885-1963) to Hodder-Williams, offering assistance with the design: "If Miss Pares will give me an idea as to the illustrations she has in mind I will do my best to supply her at once with some data". He also discusses making alterations to the proofs of another work, perhaps This Island Demands, published the following year: "I certainly do not want to offend anyone needlessly in these hard times... It was hard to write in war, but the result seems more or less what I intended."Jordan's letter is accompanied by a letter dated the following day from Hodder-Williams's secretary - one D. E.

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