Books

8vo. 4 vols.; original blue cloth, spines lettered in gilt, with the blue dust-jackets lettered in white; preserved in a specially made cloth-covered fall-down-back box, lettered in gilt on a leather spine label. In very good condition. Some lower margins creased in Vile Bodies, one jacket is slightly chipped and repaired internally, otherwise a very good set. Sets of this uniform edition of Waugh's first four novels are very scarce, particularly with dust-jackets. In addition to this trade edition (each title published at 5s.), there were twelve copies of each novel printed for the author on rag mould-made paper, none of which were for sale. Decline and Fall includes Waugh's own illustrations done for the first edition (1928); Vile Bodies has Waugh's cartoon of a racing car (printed in orange and black) as trontispiece; Black Mischief has Waugh's drawing "H.I.M. Seth of Azania, not included in the first trade edition (1932), as trontispiece; A Handful of Dust has the frontispiece drawing of "Hetton Abbey" by J.D.M. Harvey.

Vile Bodies is a novel by Evelyn Waugh that satirizes the decadent lifestyles of the 'Bright Young Things' in 1920s London. Full of wit and humor, it paints a vivid picture of a society obsessed with fashion, parties, and scandal.