ROMANY LOVE

First edition, first printing. Original blue cloth with yellow titles to the spine, in the illustrated dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding firm, the spine slightly rolled. The cloth is clean and faintly faded to the spine. The contents, with the bookplate of Kees Hartmans to the front pastedown, along with his pencil annotations to the margins and a few spots to the rear endpapers, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the lightly rubbed, nicked and creased, price-clipped dustwrapper that is lightly toned to the spine and has a few very short closed tears at the edges. A scarce title, particularly in the dustwrapper.

The seventh book by the Gypsy showman, writer, broadcaster and astrologer, Xavier 'Gypsy' Petulengro (1878-1957). Petulengro found fame in the late 1920s when he was asked to assist in reviving the Gypsy 'parties' that were reputed to have been held in Baildon in Yorkshire for hundreds of years prior to dying out in 1897. The subsequent news coverage revealed a great public interest in Gypsy life and customs, and in the 1930s Petulengro was able to establish himself as a regular on BBC radio as well as stages around the country. His shows and broadcasts were immensely popular and he was soon a household name, often being given the title 'King of the Gypsies'. His first book was a guide to Gypsy herbal remedies, and its success prompted him to establish a mail-order herb business. He went on to publish seven more books on Gypsy related topics. 'Romany Love' tells the fictional tale of a 'gorgio' (non-gypsy) child who is raised in a gypsy family, and the love affairs and tribulations that she must traverse as she grows up. This example is from the library of Kees Hartmans, a librarian of the Amsterdam city archives, editor of De Piste (The Ring) magazine and a collector of books and ephemera relating to the circus. He bequeathed his collection of over 3,000 books and other circus-related materials to the University of Amsterdam in 1963, where it remains a hugely significant resource on circuses. Hartmans' pencilled marginalia can be found throughout the book, primarily relating to the Romany words used in the text.