Jonathan Cape, 1954 (240 pages): NEAR FINE A superbly presented first edition, first impression of this very RARE book (one of only 7,500 printed). Book comes complete with correct first edition jacket (priced 10s 6d on back flap) - and is the 3rd of the three 'states' of jacket for the first impression. [The 3rd state jacket has the illustrator's credit directly under the blurb on front flap rather than floating as per the second state; the first state jacket had no illustrators credit at all]. Book and jacket (front and back) present in superlative condition - with the deep-purple design unfaded, with bright yellow lettering. Boards in excellent square, sharp condition, with no bumps and no lean. Minor chipping to jacket corners only. Save for a neat contemporary inscription, the inner pages of this book are mark-free. No spotting/foxing/annotations. They really do need to be seen to be believed. Only very pale tanning to the page block. Numerically scarce, this example is exceptionally good.