DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME; comprised of:] A Question of Upbringing; A Buyer's Market; The Acceptance World; At Lady Molly's; Casanova's Chinese Restaurant; The Kindly Ones; The Valley of Bones; The Soldier's Art; The Military Philosophers; Books do Furnish a Room; Temporary Kings; Hearing Secret Harmonies by Powell Anthony - 1960-1975

London: Heinemann, 1960-1975. Together 12 volumes. First Editions of all 12 books, book one is 7th issue, book two is 5th issue, book three is 5th issue, book four is 2nd issue; books five through twelve are all first issue. 8vo, each volume is in publisher's original uniform red cloth, the spines with gilt lettering within a painted black label gilt ruled, additional gilt lettering at the foot, and all are in the famous original beautifully decorated dustjackets designed by James Broom-Lynne. A fine and handsome set, any toning or mellowing to the jackets is very minor, the books are all fresh and clean and sturdy. A HANDSOME AND COMPLETE SET OF THE AUTHOR'S BEST AND MOST FAMOUS WORK. His series of novels that comprise A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME, an undertaking that spanned three decades, have been acclaimed by such critics as A. N. Wilson and fellow writers including Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis as among the finest English fiction of the twentieth century. The roman-fleuve of manners, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life in the mid-20th century has characters (many modeled loosely on real people) who surface, vanish, and then later reappear throughout the sequence. The title of the sequence was borrowed from a painting by Poussin of the same name; full of figures who's identities are uncertain. In the first two pages of 'A Question of Upbringing' the narrator, Nicolas Jenkins, reflects on the painting which resides in the Wallace Collection.
In 2008, 'The Times' named Powell one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945, mostly on the strength of this series of novels.