The Land
First published in 1926, this a famous poetry collection of the changing of the seasons with secondary subjects such as Yeoman, Cider making, wildflowers etc annotated at edge of each subsequent page.
Vita was a renowned author, journalist and poet whilst equally famous for her many sexual partners and open marriage being unfairly seen as an androgynous icon in the early 1900’s. Born 1892 she died at her beloved Sissinghurst property in 1962 after years as a leader in the Bloomsbury literary group.
There are two copies of The Land in our collection that have excellent provenance from Forum Auctions in London by descent through the family of the author’s fondest lover Alvide Lees-Milne (1909- 1994), also a leading expert in gardening and landscape design.
Alvide was originally married to Anthony Chaplin, a hereditary peer and then to the author James Lees-Milne from 1951 till her death in 1994. James had been the lover of Harold Nicholson, (Vita’s husband till her death after over twenty years of very happy marriage) in the 1930’s. During Vita’s marriage, she and Alvide had an affair in the 1950’s whilst they were both working on the Sissinghurst gardens and Alvide also moved in literary circles being good friends with many writers such as Nancy Mitford and Somerset Maugham. To add to the intrigue, James and Nancy’s brother Tom were lovers previously, whilst both attending that hotbed of promiscuity, Eton College. In this famous open marriage Sir Harold Nicholson would describe it as a union of “joyful companionship“ whilst he was an MP for Leicester through the war years (1935 -1945).
Sissinghurst is still kept in excellent order, both the castle and the gardens being run by the British National Trust and visited by thousands every year.
In the less expensive later 1939 edition, the beautiful cryptic inscription from Vita reads “Alvide, but, not, alas, from Vita” dated in a different pen 3.7.53 in clear handwriting on the free front endpaper.
This version is however an unsigned first edition of 1926, from the same source.
Specifications
| Author | Sackville-West, Vita |
| Publisher | William Heinemann Ltd |
| Place Published | London, United Kingdom |
| Year Published | 1926 |
| Date of First Edition or Edition Notes |
First Edition |
| Size | 8vo (Octavo 21cm x 14cm) |
| Pages | 107pp |
Condition Report
| Cover | Good Condition - Note: Stylish black on cream cover designed by George Plank and is still intact with no major tears though with some edge and corner chipping and light tanning other than marked browning of the spine displaying the 6/- cost price. Some soft pencil notes on rear flap too and it is now protected in removable clear archival covering. |
| Overall | Good Condition - Note: Internally it is devoid of any extraneous markings or prior ownership identifiers .The book is largely free of foxing other than two strips of tanning on both fep's. Hardcover done in burgundy publisher's cloth with minor scuffing and corner bruising. There is a paper label with the title attached to the spine and surprisingly a 'spare' label is attached internally. The paper is rough cut and holding to the firm spine well with no loose pages and this adds to the obvious patina of age deal for any Bloomsbury collector's library. |