Hand numbered, the second volume signed by Harte

ARDIZZONE, Edward; BOYD HARTE, Glynn ~ Visiting Dieppe; A Weekend in Dieppe.

FIRST UK PRINTINGS. Warren Editions, London: 1981

Small Folios, 2 vols; printed paste-paper boards, both showing images of a boat in the ocean with a figure and two fish in an outcast net; backed in red and blue cloth, respectively; backstrips lettered in white; Vol I with a frontis and two further vignettes by Ardizzone; followed by a printed essay by Lytton Lamb, the story itself reproducing the illustrations and calligraphic handwriting of the author, printed throughout in black; Vol II with decorative title in blue and black, followed by a vignette of 'Last minute packing', printed in blue, and thereafter with 8 full-page and full-colour illustrations, along with numerous others in-text; THE BOOKS essentially fine volumes both, aside from very insignificant bumping and scuffing; housed in the custom-made marbled paper slipcase. Limited editions, first printings both. 'Visiting Dieppe' one of 125 copies, this copy hand-numbered 118. 'A Weekend in Dieppe' is one of 100 copies, hand-numbered and signed by the author in red pencil. Two differing, but similar accounts of visits to Dieppe on the Northern Coast of France, made 30 years apart. Ardizzone was greatly inspired by the coastline, with many of the line and watercolour drawings which made him famous based on or around seaside locations. In this series of diary entries, he records his party (together with his brother and Barnett Freedman) on the rough seas over the channel, the splendid dinners enjoyed in France, as well as thunderstorms, walks along the cliffs, exhibitions and shopping trips within the town. Dieppe of the 1950s would have been very different to Harte's account published some years later. Damaged by war, the introduction describes gaps in the hotels along the sea front, and the chimneys of the tobacco factories demolished. Nonetheless, both authors describe the seemingly timeless Richmond Hotel, along with similar cuisines and available seafood. "It is substantial truth that emerges from Mr Ardizzone" Lytton Lamb writes in his introduction, "the varied shapes, sizes and tribal backgrounds of his party, the mixture of naif appetite and experienced gourmandise, of expert knowledge and unworldly shrewdness, could not have been invented. We are dealing with real life." The second volume, by Boyd Harte, is the rarest of the two. In it, he recreates in wonderful full colour, some of the places and objects encountered on his holiday jaunts, including churches, markets, and many lunch and dinner visits. Harte and his wife Carrie spent many years together in France, and later purchased a house at Veules-les-Roses in Normandy. A wonderful set, scarce thus.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Fine