Publisher: Gollancz, 1962

Edition: 1st US, 1st impression, signed

Binding: Hardback

For a while, Menna Gallie was a 'forgotten' novelist - being Welsh and a woman didn't help her much in London publishing circles.  Nevertheless, with a revived interest in Welsh writing encouraged by initiatives such as the Writers of Wales series, she has returned, rightly, to the forefront.   

This is one of Gallie's best works and was republished twice in the 2000s.  It is set in the close-knit coal mining community of her youth.

The book is dedicated on the front endpaper to "Elizabeth Bloomfield" or "Bloomfuld" - association unknown - with the comment "New York and the Mauretania'.  The latter may refer to the transatlantic liner Gallie may have travelled on.

The author has flat-signed again to the title page. The book is very clean and tight with no markings.  A little tanning to text block edges.  Some discolouration to the boards but otherwise fresh. In the jacket there are some small scuffs and losses, but otherwise intact. A little grubby to rear.  Not price clipped.

Book Condition: Fine

Jacket Condition: Very good

Menna Gallie was born in Ystradgynlais, in the upper Swansea Valley, and this is the (fictional) setting for novels such as Strike for a Kingdom and The Small Mine; this, in particular, allows Gallie to use minutely observed local custom and practice, very much like Dylan Thomas.  One chapter begins with the incomparable 'Lil Cream Slices was buying navy-blue school knickers from Mrs Griffiths the Stockings..."

Price: £110.00

Item # 873