George Orwell

ORWELL, George (1903-1950). Coming Up For Air. London: Victor Gollancz, 1939.

Presentation copy of the first edition, second impression, inscribed by the author: 'To Elsie from George and Eileen'. Intriguingly the name Elsie crops up importantly twice in the context of this work and Orwell's life. While at school he fell in love with a girl called Elsie who it is thought may have been the model for the character of the same name in this very book. Elsie is the wife of the shopkeeper George with whom the novel's hero George Bowling has a tryst. Fenwick A.7a.

Octavo. (Light spotting.) Original blue cloth boards, titles to spine in blue (lacking the dust-jacket, upper hinge starting, edges of boards stained, spine lightly rolled). Provenance: authorial presentation inscription.