Very scarce with the Hans Tisdall wrapper

Gellhorn, Martha ~ A Stricken Field

Jonathan Cape, London : 1942

The First UK printing published by Jonathan Cape, London in 1942. 8vo., original pale yellow boards, lettered in red to the spine with publisher's device to the foot; together in the unclipped pictorial wrapper (8s. net to front flap) designed by Hans Tisdall featuring a wide-eyed horse in battle dress; The BOOK is in Very Good++ condition, with some scattered spotting affecting the edges and spine of the boards. Some spotting to the text-block (occasionally encroaching onto margins) and the lower paste-down ; Occasionally light spotting internally in places. Free from inscriptions. The scarce WRAPPER is in Very Good++ condition, with some rubbing and toning along the folds, a little shelf wear and some spotting to the lower panel, with some small losses to the spine ends. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. With a printed dedication to the author's husband, Ernest Hemingway, with whom she shared a marriage between 1940 and 1945. The author's scarce classic WW2 novel, which Virago went on to republish in 2000. Gellhorn is considered today to be one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century, reporting on almost every major world conflict which occurred within her career spanning some 60 years. Martha Ellis Gellhorn (1908–1998) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and quickly established herself as a pioneering and fiercely independent woman. Her mother, a suffragist and reformer, took her to her first women's suffrage rally when she was just 7, and by 1926, not wanting to wait for a degree, she left University to begin her life as a journalist. Determined to become a foreign correspondent, she travelled widely in Europe, and became active in the Pacifist movement while on the continent. After returning to the U.S.A., she lived at the White House at the request of her friend, then first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, during which time she helped her write correspondence as well as the "My Day" column in Women's Home Companion. Later, she was hired as a field investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and reported on the Great Depression. She subsequently met Hemingway, and while travelling in Spain together she reported on the rise of the Nazi party. 'A Stricken Field' tells the story of a journalist, Mary Douglas, who returns to Prague under Nazi occupation, only to see first hand the devastation which has been left in its wake, along with a swathe of stricken refugees under a brutal Gestapo regime. Gellhorn had herself visited Prague in 1938 and so it is undoubtedly true that the story she recreates has was based on her own experiences while in the country. Very scarce in the Hans Tisdall dustwrapper.

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