The Semi-Attached Couple.

EDEN, Emily; Introduction by Anthony Eden.

$400.00

Item Number: 145160

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1947.

First edition of the Honorable Emily Eden’s brilliant comedy of manners. Octavo, original publisher’s pictorial cloth with central botanical flourish, illustrated by Suzanne Suba. Association copy, signed and dated by the Right Honorable Anthony Eden, who contributed the introduction, on the verso of the half-title page, “Anthony Eden Paris March 1948.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate to the front pastedown and gift inscription to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by Susanne Suba. Drawing of the author by George Richmond, R.A. Uncommon signed.

With all of the wit of a Jane Austen novel and plenty of its own original charm, 'The Semi-Attached Couple' offers a uniquely satirical and comedic portrayal of the social norms and conventions of Victorian society, navigating the themes of marriage, expectation, courtship, family, and social status with light-hearted humor and grace. "These people and scenes and also, perhaps most of all, the vivid picture of the Election in the days before the secret ballot, are vivid and realistic - are, in fact, the England of that day. To read 'The Semi-Attached Couple' again is to get a glimpse of the social history of an England of which scarcely a vestige remains" (Anthony Eden).