A RARE EDITION: ROSEMARY GOAD AT EIGHTY Celebrating Six Decades in Publishing.

First edition. Publisher's original card covers with titles in black, white and purple to the upper and lower covers. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, bright and fresh with a touch of rubbing to the extremities and light creasing to the bottom corners of the lower cover. The contents are clean throughout and without previous owners' marks.

This copy is from the library of Frank Pike, editor at Faber, who over four decades, from the 1960s, onwards was responsible for the Faber drama list, recruiting Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Brian Friel, Sam Shepard, and Alan Bennett, among others, as well as working closely with authors already publishing with the firm, notably Samuel Beckett. A fine association copy dedicated to Rosemary Goad (1928 - 2021), the first woman to become a director at Faber and Faber in the late 1970s. A legendary editor at Faber, Goad began her career at the publishing house in 1953 as a secretary working under editor Charles Monteith, and shared a room in the office with fellow secretary Valerie Fletcher, later Valerie Eliot, Mrs T. S. Eliot. Under Goad's keen editorial eye, writers and poets such as Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Kazuo Ishiguro, and P. D. James, found great success in the London literary world and cemented their status as Faber authors. Goad retired from the publishing house in 1988. This collection of writings by fellow collaborators, authors, and close friends, was privately published on 4th November 2008 in honour of Goad's eightieth birthday. In this volume, the contributors reflect upon their first encounters with Goad and her profound impact upon their literary careers, and share personal anecdotes from their friendships or professional relationships with her. A notable piece included here is by Seamus Heaney, who wrote an original poem in her honour (dated 29 November 1988) with an additional editorial note reading "Seamus Heaney composed this poem to mark Rosemary's retirement from Faber in 1988. As a tribute to her it cannot be improved on, even by the poet himself". A heartfelt tribute to a literary icon.