The Undesigning Widow

Dolf Wyllarde

Published by Mills & Boon Limited, 49 Rupert Street, London, 1927

About this Item

First Edition (NAP). Once listed, this will be the Only non-library copy of this book for sale anywhere on the Internet. Regarding the publisher (Mills & Boon Limited) here's a quote from a book titled 'Romance Fiction and American Culture: Love as the Practice of Freedom?' which was edited by William A. Gleason and Eric Murphy Selinger: 'But while paperback publishing (particularly stories that suggested sexuality and romance) was being greeted with moral outrage and legal ramifications prior to World War II, especially in the US, Mills & Boon initially remained detached from the fracas, arguably because it continued to publish in masculine drag: hard binding helping its list keep the status of literary fiction. As Andreas Huyssen has observed, cultural forms became increasingly gendered when minorities began questioning white male upper-class privilege in the 19th and early 20th century; it is both comical and absurd that the gendering in the case of novel materiality is quite literal: hard is male and better, soft is female and worse. By this yardstick Mills & Boon, though always interested in what would later be considered "formulaic" women-centered plots, enjoyed some immunity because it appeared to be male.' Dolf Wyllarde was educated at King's College, London. She trained as a journalist. As you can see from the photos, the covers of the book have held up very well. There's one small light stain on the front cover above the letters 'des' in Undesigning. The lettering on both the front and spine is still quite bright. The corners and edges are in very good condition. There is a crease at the bottom corner of both the front and rear cover. There is a penciled name on the inside front cover. There is no other writing to be found anywhere else in the book. I can say that with confidence because I turned over all the pages. I wanted to see whether the binding was solid throughout. It is. I found only one instance of a space between two facing pages. Neither page is loose. These two pages are part of a 20 page section that follows the last page of the book. Most of these 20 pages are filled with descriptions of other Mills & Boon novels. So the book is solidly bound and that includes the covers. The spine does slant somewhat forward. The pages are very clean. They are age tanned. I saw a few minor creases. I didn't see any dogeared corners. There are no markings in the book. And there are no attachments. Seller Inventory # 002240

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Undesigning Widow

Publisher: Mills & Boon Limited, 49 Rupert Street, London

Publication Date: 1927

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition