WODEHOUSE, P. G. (1881-1975). Love Among the Chickens. London: George Newnes, Limited, [1906].

Presentation copy of the first edition, inscribed by the author shortly after publication: ‘to Seymour Hicks from Professor P. G. Wodehouse. Not to be swept away!’. Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (1871-1949) was an English actor, playwright and screenwriter, most famous for his performance of Ebenezer Scrooge in the theatre adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Wodehouse and Hicks first collaborated in 1906, the year the present work was published, when the English humourist provided the lyrics for the musical comedy The Beauty of Bath, which was written and starred Hicks. Love Among the Chickens was Wodehouse’s first adult novel and features the introduction of the beloved Wodehouse character Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge. McIlvaine A7(a).

Octavo. Frontispiece and 3 plates by H. M. Brock (light scattered spotting, frontispiece partially detached). Original pictorial stone-coloured cloth, with illustrations in red, blue and green (extremities lightly rubbed, expertly rebacked with original backstrip laid down); housed in modern green half morocco clamshell box, spine lettered in gilt. Provenance: Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (1871-1949; authorial presentation inscription on front endpaper dated August 1906).