The Devil Held the Aces (Only Signed Copy)

Patrick Doncaster

Published by W.H. Allen, London, 1944

About this Item

This book is extremely rare. The presence of its dust jacket makes it singularly unique. And once listed, it will also be the Only signed copy for sale on the Internet. This was the author's first novel. There isn't a date of publication in the book, but a bit of research revealed that it was published in 1944. The signed inscription, on the first front end paper, is dated 1947. The inscription reads: 'With all good wishes to Elliott B. Macrae-- Patrick Doncaster, London, 27 Feb 1947.' Happily, the book is in very nice shape. You can see the green covers in the photos. There isn't any conspicuous staining of soiling. The black lettering on the spine is reasonably bright and quite legible. The corners have only a bit of mild rubbing. The spine ends a tiny bit of color fade. The edges look very good. The book is solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout and nicely tight covers as well. The interior of the book is in very nice shape. The first page of each chapter has a small square illustration (the illustrator is not identified). The pages are very clean. I saw one very tiny spot just off the top edge of two sides of the same page, far from the print. I didn't see any conspicuous creasing. There are no markings. No attachments. And with the exception of the author's signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in the book. I've had the dust jacket in a fitted protective cover for as long as I've owned the book. You can see the jacket in the first few photos. It's held up pretty nicely. There are a few tears off the front bottom edge. There is a thin bit of loss across the top edge of the spine. There's some color fade off the front top and bottom edges. The lettering and design looks good. The flaps are in quite solid condition and very clean. The jacket is NOT price-clipped, not clipped at all. From the dust jacket: 'Publishers Note: Soon after the war began, we decided as a matter of policy, to publish no fiction unless, and until, we happened across a work that would really justify our debut into this rather overcrowded field. It seemed probable that the war itself would provide all the thrills and adventure that most readers could usefully absorb, and in any case it would need a mighty fine piece of imaginative writing to compete with the high drama of unfolding events in everyday life. But the outstanding effort we were looking for seemed to elude us. Then one day recently our chief reader passed on a manuscript to which he attached the trenchant comment: "This looks like it." The writer was a young English journalist (serving in the armed forces) and this was his first novel. It was rather short as novels go and it was written in the clipped conversational style that American novelists do so well and which English authors imitate, as a rule, so feebly. But this work stood up to all the tests for story-value, originality, emotional content, suspense and the other things by which a book is appraised. Here was a taut, impressive narrative set against the vivid background of the historic traek across Flanders to the beaches of Dunkirk. It was stark; it was colourful; it was shatteringly frank in parts, but it all rang true. It sounded too real to be fiction. Yet it wasn't merely another tale of the battle and the glory. Fact had been blended with romance for throughout the tangled pattern of war and misery and heartache the author had deftly woven the silken threads of the tender and tragic love story. The chief merit of this excellent first novel lies in its simple sincerity. It is a story of a soldier's deep and abiding faith in something beyond the crudities and vexations of ordinary life. Amid the horror of war he found his soul; it was sublimated by a great love-- a "love that will outlive all the world's and all the wars." '. Seller Inventory # 003396

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Devil Held the Aces (Only Signed Copy)

Publisher: W.H. Allen, London

Publication Date: 1944

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Good

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)