RUINS AND VISIONS

Second impression of the first edition. Inscribed presentation copy, with an ALS. Publisher's original green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. A near very good copy, the binding firm but with a severe bump to the top right corner and some red ink marks to the upper board. The contents are clean throughout. Laid in is a brief autograph letter from the author to Julien Green sending this book as a "souvenir of your visit to England" and writing that he looks forward to seeing him again sometime. Also enclosed is the front panel of the original envelope addressed in the author's hand.

The book is inscribed by the author in blue ink on the front free endpaper "To Julien Green / this token of a meeting in / Oxford in 1930 / Stephen Spender / 6 Nov 1945". Paris born American writer Julien Green was a major figure in 20th century French literature and was the first non-French national to be elected to the Académie française. His reputation rests principally not on his novels, but on his diaries which provide a chronicle of his literary and religious life and a unique window on the artistic and literary scene in Paris over an 80 year period. Provenance: from the library of Martin Stone.