"The Love-Child" 1927 OLIVIER, Edith
$175
[174] pp.
OLIVIER, Edith
Martin Secker
w/ Rex Whistler title & final vignette
1927
7.75" x 5.25"
'What was she? Not a child, for she was seventeen, and taller than Kitty: not a girl, for she floated like a feather, and flew into trees like a bird; not a spirit - she was human to touch. But to-night she was all made of mischief and magic, remote form him, and yet calling him to here . . .'
At thirty-two, her mother dead, Agatha Bodenham finds herself quite alone. She summons back to life the only friend she ever knew, Clarissa, the dream companion of her childhood. At first Clarissa comes by night, and then by day, gathering substance in the warmth of Agatha's obsessive love until it seems that others too can see her. See, but not touch, for Agatha has made her love child for herself alone. No man may approach her elfin creation of perfect beauty. If he does, the love which summoned her can spirit her away . . .
The Love Child (1927) was Edith Olivier's first novel, acknowledged as a minor masterpiece: a perfectly imagined fable and a moving and perceptive portrayal of unfulfilled maternal love.
Ex-libris Roderick Eustace Enthoven (1900-1985)
British architect and illustrator Roderick Eustace Enthoven was born in Seal, Kent, England on May 30, 1900. He studied at Clifton College and then at the Architectural Association School, London from 1919-1924. He became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1925 and later Fellow in 1932. In 1926, he began teaching at the Architectural Association School. That year, he also became a partner in Pakington, Enthoven and Gray. He remained in partnership with Humphrey Pakington until war broke out in 1939.