WODEHOUSE, P. G. (1881-1975). The Girl in Blue. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970.

Ira Gershwin's copy of the first edition: presentation copy inscribed by the author: ‘To Ira all the best from Plum P. G. Wodehouse Dec 22. 1970’. Loosely inserted is a two-page letter in red ink on Wodehouse's Long Island, NY stationery, from the author's wife Lady Ethel Wodehouse (1885-1984) to Ira and his wife Leonore ['Lee'] dated December 27 1971: 'Plum has been quite ill, but he is having oxygen every day, and he is much better now...' Ira Gershwin was a celebrated American lyricist and a frequent collaborator with Wodehouse. The two first worked together in 1926 on the hit musical Oh, Kay! The inscription dated 44 years after the pair’s first collaboration attests to their enduring friendship; one that would ultimately last until Wodehouse’s death five years later. McIlvaine A93a.

Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt (corners and one edge very lightly bumped); original pictorial dust-jacket with design by Osbert Lancaster on upper cover and photograph of Wodehouse with his dog on lower cover (tiny nicks at head of spine panel). Provenance: Ira Gershwin (1896-1983; authorial presentation inscription on front free endpaper).