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Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Description: One of 20 sets for presentation from an overall edition of 620, this is letter e and Wells has written (Little e), signed by H.G. Wells in volume one, and additionally inscribed by Wells in volume one to his lover Elizabeth von Arnim, "To Little e H.G." With her bookplate to all but two volumes. After her first husband's death, she had a three-year affair with the writer H. G. Wells, then later married Frank Russell, elder brother of the Nobel prize-winning writer and philosopher Bertrand Russell. She was a cousin of the New Zealand-born writer Katherine Mansfield. Her first marriage made her Countess von Arnim-Schlagenthin and her second Elizabeth Russell, Countess Russell. Though known in early life as May, publication of her first book introduced her to readers as Elizabeth, which she eventually became to her friends and finally even to her family. She is now known invariably as Elizabeth von Arnim. She used the pen nameÂAlice CholmondeleyÂonly for the novelÂChristine, published in 1917. According to Katy Roiphe's Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910-1939, 2008, she "arranged for her married lover (H.G.ÂWells) to visit her Swiss chalet bedroom by means of a hidden entrance". The affectionate inscription confirms that, even after their affair had ended, they remained close friends. Octavo, 28 volumes. Bound in original publishers cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, top edge gilt. Frontispiece illustrations including the author portrait in volume one. In near fine condition. An exceptional association. H.G. Wells is best remembered for his science fiction novels, and is called the father of science fiction, along with Jules Verne. His most notable works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.