Beschreibung:

P.R.B. An Essay on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 1847-1854. [London]: Alastair Graham, 1926. 8vo (215 x 139 mm). Errata slip with line in Waugh's hand tipped in before first page. Original blue cloth over boards, spine stamped in gilt, custom navy morocco-backed clamshell case. Front flyleaf and rear endpapers browned, a few stray spots, top edge of boards somewhat sunned, corners, head and tail of spine lightly bumped or nudged. Provenance: Elspeth Waugh, aunt of Evelyn Waugh, inscribed to her by her brother, Evelyn Waugh's father Arthur Waugh, dated November 19, 1926; Evelyn Waugh with his autograph inscription stating the book was bequeathed to him by his aunt; Anthony Hobson (note from subsequent owner that volume was purchased from Hobson's sale at Sotheby's June 28th, 1996); Sir Theodore Brinckman (bookplate to clamshell case and correspondence laid in). EVELYN WAUGH'S OWN COPY, LIMITED TO 50 COPIES of one of Waugh's earliest books, preceded only by a juvenile work. Inscribed by Waugh's father Arthur Waugh: "to Elspeth Waugh, the author's godmother, this bibliographical rarity (only fifty copies printed) from her brother the author's father / Nov. xix : 1926." and SIGNED & INSCRIBED by Evelyn Waugh: "Bequeathed by her to the author / Evelyn Waugh." Waugh became interested in the Pre-Raphaelites in 1925, especially after Alastair Graham suggested that he write something about the Movement for him to print. "The Pre-Raphaelites still absorb me. I think I can say without affectation that during this last week I lived with them night and day." [Waugh, Diaries, 14th November 1925]. Although Waugh took a keen interest in the production of the book, he nevertheless noted in his diary on 17th November 1926, "P.R.B. has arrived with an uncorrected mistake I had noticed before and forgot to put in the errata. It was presumably this holograph erratum that Waugh added to the errata list in this copy in green ink. It was on the strength of P.R.B. that Waugh was able to secure the commission for his next book, Rossetti: His Life and Works. Waugh's father liked the essay and it could be for this reason that he decided to gift this copy to his sister Elspeth, despite the fact that relations between the two had allegedly been strained since the death of their parents 20 years earlier. Of Waugh's three aunts on his father's side, he always regarded Elspeth as his favorite. He described her as "selfish, capricious and sharp tongued" (A Little Learning, p.49)- it was perhaps this last attribute that would have attracted Waugh most. "Evelyn Waugh's essay on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is something more than a literary curiosity; it is also a fascinating art-historical document ... The tone of the essay is lively and entertaining, and there are some enjoyable flashes of Wavian wit and sarcasm, in particular the reference to Christina Rossetti's poems in limp calf, and the 'line of Miss Siddal's neck" (Christopher Wood's "Postscript" in the 1982 edition of P.R.B.).