WAUGH, Evelyn (1903-1966). The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, a Conversation Piece. London: Chapman & Hall, 1957.

A presentation copy of the first edition, inscribed: "For Father d'Arcy with love from Evelyn July 1957." The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold was Waugh's fictional account of his own hallucinatory experiences while aboard the SS Staffordshire, bound for Ceylon, in 1954. The trip was meant to remedy a bout of writer's block, but overuse of bromide sedatives brought it to a memorable close. Waugh himself referred to the work as his “mad book.” Father Martin D'Arcy was a close friend of Waugh's and influential in the writer's conversion to Roman Catholicism. See also lot 427.

Octavo. Publisher's blue cloth. Pictorial dust jacket (a little chipping to head of spine, some general edgewear, minor soiling). Provenance: Martin Cyril D'Arcy, 1888-1976, Roman Catholic priest (authorial inscription).