With the very scarce Edward Ardizzone wrapper

Blake, George ~ Paper Money : With The Very Early Edward Ardizzone Wrapper

First UK Printing : Constable & Co Ltd., London : 1928

The First UK Printing published by Constable & Co Ltd., London in 1928. 8vo., ochre-coloured boards, lettered and lined in red to the upper cover and spine ; together in the unclipped pictorial wrapper (7/6 net to front flap) featuring a design by 'EJIA'; The BOOK is in near Fine condition, square and clean with just a hint of spotting to the outer edges of the text block, occasionally extending onto page edges, and a hint of minor mottling to the paste-downs; The WRAPPER is in Very Good++ or better condition, with some light even shelf wear and darkening, more-so along the folds; some nicking and very slight losses to the spine ends ; a couple of short closed tears extending into the upper and lower panels (the longest 4cm in length. The wrapper is signed ' 'EJIA' - or Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, making this wrapper one of his earliest commissions. Completely unrestored, the wrapper looks striking in a removable Brodart archival cover. Blake was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1893, and studied at the University of Glasgow. After the First World War (in which he was injured during the Gallipoli campaign), he began to write for the Glasgow Evening News, and eventually became its Literary Editor. It was also around this time that he began to write - a series of short plays, essays, and novels. ''Mince Collop Close' appeared in 1923, and it was swiftly followed by 'The Wild Men' (1925) and 'Young Malcolm' (1926), perhaps his better-known work, which tells the story of a young Scottish lad who wins a medical scholarship to the University of Glasgow. 'Paper Money' was his fourth novel which uses many of the themes for which he was best known; a focus on Glasgow, and the Scottish industrial working class. In 1930 he became a director of Faber & Faber, and was partially responsible for the takeover, by them, of the Porpoise Press. Very scarce with the wonderfully striking period wrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good++