"Noblesse Oblige. An Enquiry Into The Identifiable Characteristics Of The English Aristocracy" 1956 MITFORD, Nancy [edited by]

Alan Ross, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, 'Strix', Christopher Sykes and John Betjeman

[114] pp.

Hamish Hamilton

1956

First Impression

8" x 5 1/2"

Illustrations by Osbert Lancaster.

VG/ VG

A collection of writings on the social implications of "U"- and "Non-U" language, terms popularised by Nancy Mitford to identify 'true' members of the Upper Classes. The concept of 'Upper-Class English Usage' in linguistics was introduced by Professor Alan Ross in 1954. Mitford then published an essay on the subject in Encounter, which was followed by reposts and comments by many including Evelyn Waugh, 'Strix' and Christopher Sykes.

DESCRIPTION

Alan Ross, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, 'Strix', Christopher Sykes and John Betjeman. Edited by Nancy Mitford. Illustrated by Osbert Lancaster. Hamish Hamilton. London. 1956. First edition, first impression. Hardback, octavo; red cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. 114 pages. B&w illustrations by Osbert Lancaster. English. 205 x 140mm. 0.25kg

Very good, in very good dust jacket; slight shelf wear, slight spotting to jacket, slight lean to spine, not price-clipped; light offsetting to endpapers, contemporary owner's name to front endpaper, extract from the Letters page of a newspaper pasted to rear flap, presumably one of the letters being written by the book's owner