THE FIRST MRS WORDSWORTH A Novel.

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Inscribed presentation copy. Publisher's original green cloth with titles in black to the spine, in dustwrapper. With an autograph letter signed, loosely laid in. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, with mild rubbing and bumping to the extremities, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, a little toned to the paper-stock are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owners' marks. Complete with the lightly rubbed dustwrapper. Not price-clipped (UK £16.99 to the front flap).

Inscribed by the author in black ink on the half title "Frank / (hardly a tale of amorous / progress, but full of the / melancholy of such occasions) / As always, / Michael." Loosely laid in is a note from the author "Saturday / Dear Frank, / I hope life goes well for you. You / can see how my life is designed - they've / printed my latest on bogpaper. Surely there's / a message involved? The hype is hardly one / to encourage the myopic, either. / We must have a gloomy feast soon, and / cheer up this cheerless winter. / See you, / Michael". Michael Baldwin (1930-2014) award winning novelist, poet, broadcaster, writing tutor and founder and chair of the Arvon Foundation. 'The First Mrs Wordsworth' is the author's eleventh and penultimate novel. The recipient is Frank Pike, an editor at Faber and Faber for 41 years and from the 1960s onwards 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.