Books

First edition, first impression, signed limited issue, number 42 of 250 large-paper copies signed by the author and illustrator, presentation copy, additionally inscribed by Waugh on the limitation page, "Mr Graham Greene's copy". Waugh and Greene first met while studying at Oxford in the early 1920s, but did not become friends until 15 years later when, in 1937, they began writing together for the literary magazine Night and Day. Greene edited the weekly and Waugh contributed book reviews for each issue. The two soon became close friends, regularly reviewed each other's work, and exchanged presentation copies of their books throughout their lives. Published the same year as Greene's The Heart of the Matter, The Loved One is similarly a subtle expression of its author's Roman Catholic attitudes. In a review of both works, John Bayley notes that the two writers "use their Catholicism as a weapon and a probe; they explore vice and anarchy from a definite standpoint... Neither book is impassive and self-explanatory; both claim a knowledge of something better" (quoted in Stannard, pp. 312-13). Greene himself emphasizes the theological themes of Waugh's novel in his own review: "We cannot help noticing the genuine note of hate, the hate of a man who loves, of one who is aware that it was for this grotesque world a God died, who is bitterly ashamed of what we have made of ourselves." Provenance: from the collection of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2021), with his posthumous bookplate. READ MORE Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Housed in a custom green quarter green morocco slipcase and chemise. Engraved frontispiece in red, title page in black and red, full-page engravings, vignettes, and rubricated letters in red. Spine ends bumped, tiny light marks to last couple of pages, contents otherwise clean and crisp. A near-fine copy. Martin Stannard, ed., Evelyn Waugh: The Critical Heritage, 1984.

The Loved One is a short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, California, and the British expatriate community in Hollywood.