The True Heart

TOWNSEND WARNER, Sylvia; [GARNETT, Ray]

Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1929

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY AUTHOR. Small 8vo, pp. [viii], 297, [1] + charming title page woodcut of tea service for two by Ray Garnett. Original blue and brown mottled cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Bottom edge untrimmed. Spine cocked, backstrip and boards sunned (as often seen), extremities bumped, head of spine frayed. Signed by STW in blue biro to half-title, endpapers toned, some foxing. Else, clean. Good+ A sturdy copy of STW's re-telling of the Psyche and Cupid myth through the genre of historical romance, unusual with authorial signature. With a printed dedication "To my mother who first told me a story". 3750 copies of the first edition were printed. STW's protagonist with the true heart is Sukey Bond, orphan and slavey, hence the focal tea-kettle in Ray Garnett's vignette. Ray Garnett (née Rachel Marshall, 1891-1940), illustrator and engraver, met STW through her husband, author and bookseller, David Garnett. STW became "an intimate friend of Ray's," but this pairing of author and illustrator was in fact prompted by Charles Prentice, David Garnett and STW's publisher at Chatto: "I shall be very glad to do a teapot and cups for the title page of The True Heart," Ray wrote to him, "If I do a woodcut, it must be a very fine one to go with the printing. Shall I draw several and show them to Sylvia to see if they are the right kind?" (cited in J. Lawrence Mitchell, 1981/2). The final woodcut was reproduced on the dust jacket, with the illustrator receiving three guineas and two copies of the novel for her work; this was a boon for Ray, who observed to Prentice, "I enjoyed reading the book immensely. I think I like it best of the three [of STW's novels]" (ibid). Russell & Lawrence Mitchell 6a; J. Lawrence Mitchell (1981/2) 'Ray Garnett as Illustrator,' The Powys Review, no. 10, pp. 9-28; Seller Inventory # 2813

Bibliographic Details

Title: The True Heart
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
Publication Date: 1929
Binding: Cloth
Condition: Good+
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: 1st Edition