BURDEKIN, Katherine.. THE REASONABLE HOPE. John Lane, The Bodley Head,, London,, 1924.

Price: US$387.48 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First Edition. Hardback. Copy From The Family Of K.b. 8VO.PP.328. Fiction. Signed presentation from the author's brother, Charles Maurice Dukeyne Cade (1891-1966:) "With love from Maurice. 10.11.66." Inscription written five days before his death in Switzerland on 15th November, 1966. Small clipping from his newspaper obituary notice is taped to the free endpaper. Loosely inserted hand-written picture postcard from Greece, addressed to a "Miss Burdekin" in London, & dated 6/5/69. From "Olga" & "Juliet." 'The Reasonable Hope' is K.B.'s second novel, written shortly after the break-up of her marriage; her return to England & her sister, Rowena Cade, creator of the Minack Theatre; and Cornwall, where the novel is set. The title refers to the dedication, a quote from Johnson to Boswell: "There is but one solid basis of happiness; and that is the reasonable hope of a happy futurity." Passages in the novel question society's conventional relationships for both men and women "Marriage is a damned unnatural institution anyway, And damned ugly very often." Original publisher's cloth binding in blue with decorative borders in black & slightly faded black lettering at spine. Katharine Burdekin, nŽe Cade (1896Ð1963) was an English novelist who wrote speculative fiction concerned with political, social and spiritual matters; frequently categorised as feminist utopian/dystopian fiction.Her later work 'Swastika Night' written under the pseudonym ÔMurray Constantine,Õ focuses her critique on the Ôcult of masculinityÕ and the fascist dictatorship to which it can lead. in the Bodley Head publishers advertisements at rear the book is mentioned briefly - "A romantic story of Bohemian life in Chelsea." Very good. Slight wear & slight marking of covers. Endpapers slightly foxed.

Seller: Burwood Books, Wickham Market, United Kingdom