Child of Storm (With Autograph Letter Signed)
London: Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1913.
Illustrated by A. C. Michael. First Edition. Hardcover.
First Edition. McKay #53; Scott #61. Book with autograph letter laid in signed by the author. The letter is written in the author's hand on a 5x8" sheet of his personal stationery sent from his London home at 24 Redcliffe Square, S.W. Stationery includes the characteristic hieroglyphic cartouche designed especially for Haggard by W. J. Loftie. William John Loftie (1939-1911) was a British clergyman and writer on history, travel, art and architecture. Loftie wrote the book A Ride in Egypt from Sioot to Luxor in 1879; with Notes on the Present State & Ancient History of the Nile Valley, &c. and was a friend and colleague of Haggard and Egyptologist E. A. Wallace Budge. Undated letter is addressed "Dear Mrs. Loftie" and reads: "Many thanks. I will come at 8 on Sunday. Do you dress for supper or not? Mrs. R. H. cannot accept your kind invitation as she has asked some people to supper here. I suppose that the Babylonian Budge has not yet returned… Sincerely your's H. Rider Haggard." HRH and Budge were close friends and Haggard dedicated Morning Star (1910) to Budge.
Child of Storm features Allan Quatermain and is the second novel in a trilogy set in South Africa during the collapse of the Zulu kingdom. It is a sequel to Marie and a prequel to Finished.
Item #9014135 x 7-7/8”, brown cloth with gilt spine lettering, xvi, 348pp, 4pp ads, frontispiece illustration in color by A. C. Michael and 2 additional full-page black & white illustrations in text, signed autograph letter laid in.
Condition of letter: 1/2" tear at letter fold, else a crisp and very good example. Condition of book: light soiling to cloth, short 1/8" tear to each spine end, bumping to lower corner rear board, engraving of previous owner's note to rear free endpaper (owner appears to have written a note on a second piece of paper while using the book as a writing surface), else clean of owner's marks, tight, a very good pleasing copy.
Price: $750.00