Books

First edition, first impression, with a fine original pencil sketch by Peake on the front free endpaper, showing Captain Slaughterboard sitting on a rock holding a piece of paper. Across the paper is written in ink "Elizabeth" and below the sketch "from Doc". This is a presentation copy from the artist's father, Ernest Cromwell Peake MD (1874-1949), known as Doc, to his wife, Amanda Elizabeth née Powell (1875-1939), known as Elizabeth. A close association, and poignant, as Peake's mother died in the year of publication. The leaf is retrospectively signed by Peake at the foot, dated 1940, perhaps when he retrieved the book from his mother's possessions. The book itself is of legendary scarcity, this first printing of Peake's first book having been almost entirely lost in a warehouse fire prior to publication. War-time restrictions precluded immediate reprinting and the book was not reissued until 1945. Quarto. Original decorated paper boards with green cloth spine. With the Peake designed dust jacket printed in colours. Housed in a green quarter morocco solander box. Illustrated throughout in black and white by the author. Browning to title page and final leaf as usual but an excellent copy in the rather tanned dust jacket with some small areas of restoration at spine ends and corner folds.

Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor is a fantastical story of a captain and his crew, containing richly drawn characters by Mervyn Peake, an author known for his ability to blend the whimsical with the macabre.