The Equilibriad.

London: The Hogarth Press,, 1948. The publisher expresses her gratitude to another famous client First edition, number 692 of 750 signed copies only. This copy is from the estate of Laurie Lee, with a 1975 presentation note from the Hogarth publisher Norah Smallwood. The Equilibriad was published by Smallwood around the time that she initially commissioned Lee's Cider with Rosie. A decade later, she provided both Lee and Leonard Woolf with the much-needed encouragement to finally release Lee's novel in 1959. Smallwood's gift inscription appears on both sides of a purple note dated 25 June 1975, headed with her own name, and loosely inserted. The note reads, "It was a joy to see you. Thank you for a very happy hour(s). Here is the Samson/Freud book. I hope you'll approve. Love, as ever, Norah". Smallwood, who joined the board of the Hogarth Press in 1947, commanded the respect and admiration of writers such as Iris Murdoch and Aldous Huxley and commissioned talented illustrators including Enid Marx and Reynolds Stone. Sansom's novella The Equilibriad features early illustrations by Lucian Freud. Octavo. Original brown quarter buckram, spine lettered in gilt, marbled sides, bevelled edges. With original printed glassine dust jacket. With 5 plates by Lucian Freud. Title page printed in red and black. A little browning to endpapers, indentation and faint browning from paperclip which previously affixed the publisher's presentation note to title page, now loosely inserted: a near-fine copy in the torn, but retained, glassine jacket. Not in Woolmer.