STONIER, G. W. The Memoirs of a Ghost (association copy)
STONIER, G. W. The Memoirs of a Ghost. London: The Grey Walls Press. 1947. Thin 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the terrific dust jacket. This copy from the library of V. S. Pritchett with his small bookplate discreetly pasted behind the front flap. With a lengthy and intriguing inscription from the author to Pritchett, which reads: ‘My dear V. S., as you see the publishers gave me no chance to put the signposts you wanted into the blurb. But all I “meant” was this. The man is really dead, but all his experiences except a very few are those of anyone inwardly dead but outwardly living. I tried to make his predicament as strong and simple as possible, but perhaps to mix deep feeling with paradox is a mistake…. I don’t know. Thank you, anyhow, for your understanding words. Love from George” and dated February 1948. A near fine copy, the cloth a trifle bumped, the binding tight, the contents fine. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with a couple of tiny nicks and bumps.
Stonier’s second novel, a short modernist novel about a man who is killed in London’s Blitz whilst carrying a tray across the room. To his and the reader’s confusion, he continues as a ghost in what becomes a haunting, existential disillusionment of life after life, or being ‘inwardly dead but outwardly living’. The work was much-discussed on publication—the prose can be frightfully confusing at times—which might explain Pritchett’s desire for signposting. This story and Pritchett’s A Story of Don Juan appeared in the popular The Second Ghost Book (1952) edited by Cynthia Asquith. Scarce.
STONIER, G. W. The Memoirs of a Ghost. London: The Grey Walls Press. 1947. Thin 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the terrific dust jacket. This copy from the library of V. S. Pritchett with his small bookplate discreetly pasted behind the front flap. With a lengthy and intriguing inscription from the author to Pritchett, which reads: ‘My dear V. S., as you see the publishers gave me no chance to put the signposts you wanted into the blurb. But all I “meant” was this. The man is really dead, but all his experiences except a very few are those of anyone inwardly dead but outwardly living. I tried to make his predicament as strong and simple as possible, but perhaps to mix deep feeling with paradox is a mistake…. I don’t know. Thank you, anyhow, for your understanding words. Love from George” and dated February 1948. A near fine copy, the cloth a trifle bumped, the binding tight, the contents fine. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with a couple of tiny nicks and bumps.
Stonier’s second novel, a short modernist novel about a man who is killed in London’s Blitz whilst carrying a tray across the room. To his and the reader’s confusion, he continues as a ghost in what becomes a haunting, existential disillusionment of life after life, or being ‘inwardly dead but outwardly living’. The work was much-discussed on publication—the prose can be frightfully confusing at times—which might explain Pritchett’s desire for signposting. This story and Pritchett’s A Story of Don Juan appeared in the popular The Second Ghost Book (1952) edited by Cynthia Asquith. Scarce.
STONIER, G. W. The Memoirs of a Ghost. London: The Grey Walls Press. 1947. Thin 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the terrific dust jacket. This copy from the library of V. S. Pritchett with his small bookplate discreetly pasted behind the front flap. With a lengthy and intriguing inscription from the author to Pritchett, which reads: ‘My dear V. S., as you see the publishers gave me no chance to put the signposts you wanted into the blurb. But all I “meant” was this. The man is really dead, but all his experiences except a very few are those of anyone inwardly dead but outwardly living. I tried to make his predicament as strong and simple as possible, but perhaps to mix deep feeling with paradox is a mistake…. I don’t know. Thank you, anyhow, for your understanding words. Love from George” and dated February 1948. A near fine copy, the cloth a trifle bumped, the binding tight, the contents fine. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with a couple of tiny nicks and bumps.
Stonier’s second novel, a short modernist novel about a man who is killed in London’s Blitz whilst carrying a tray across the room. To his and the reader’s confusion, he continues as a ghost in what becomes a haunting, existential disillusionment of life after life, or being ‘inwardly dead but outwardly living’. The work was much-discussed on publication—the prose can be frightfully confusing at times—which might explain Pritchett’s desire for signposting. This story and Pritchett’s A Story of Don Juan appeared in the popular The Second Ghost Book (1952) edited by Cynthia Asquith. Scarce.