Skip to main content

Fine Editions Ltd

Fine Editions Ltd
Item #BB2687 [American Revolution] Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; [offered with the sequel:] Proceed, Sergeant Lamb. Robert GRAVES.
[American Revolution] Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; [offered with the sequel:] Proceed, Sergeant Lamb
[American Revolution] Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; [offered with the sequel:] Proceed, Sergeant Lamb
[American Revolution] Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; [offered with the sequel:] Proceed, Sergeant Lamb

[American Revolution] Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; [offered with the sequel:] Proceed, Sergeant Lamb

London: Methuen, 1940 / 1941. First Edition. Hardcover. First Impressions of Graves's two novels of the American War of Independence, based on the actual Roger Lamb's autobiographical works. Crown 8vo (185 x 120mm): xi,[1],376; vii,[3],,314,[2]pp, with frontispieces and folding map tipped in at rear of each volume. Publisher's plum and sea-green cloth (respectively), spines lettered in white; illustrated dust jackets, priced 8s/ 6d, illustrated by John Aldridge and printed in red, black, brown, green, and blue. 10,000 copies of each title were printed. Sergeant Lamb: top edge a bit dusty and lightly spotted but an unusually attractive copy. Proceed: trace of foxing to preliminaries and slightly dusty page edges, degree of lightening to spine, minor wear to head of spine panel. Excellent examples, tightly bound and generally clean throughout, rarely encountered as a set in such collectible condition. Higginson & Williams A51a & A53a. Near Fine+ / Near Fine. Item #BB2687

In the autumn of 1939, Graves, short of money and recently returned from America after the end of his relationship with Laura Riding, "hit on the idea of writing a big popular novel about the American War of Independence, taking as his narrator the historical figure of Sergeant Roger (Gerry) Lamb of the Ninth . . . This project would enable him to combine some disparate purposes: he could exorcize his own painful experience of America, while at the same time making use of his military knowledge and settling a few old scores (for instance, he turned his former friend Geoffrey Taylor into a satanic clergyman). Exactly a decade after the Roman Emperor Claudius had first engrossed Graves' attention to such profitable effect, the Dublin-born Sergeant Lamb came to his creative and, above all, financial rescue." (Powell, "Sergeant Lamb to the Rescue," TLS , Issue 5047, p. 19) By the following April, Graves had completed his vast novel and decided to divide it into two manageable volumes of about 90,000 words each. George Orwell, writing in the New Statesman, praised its accurate historical detail and convincingly eighteenth-century prose. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $665.00

See all items in MODERN FIRSTS
See all items by