Spark, Muriel; Jardine, Penelope [Illustrations]

THE FRENCH WINDOW AND THE SMALL TELEPHONE [Signed] [with] TLS FROM MURIEL SPARK

London: Colophon Press, 1993. Limited Edition: #48/123. Octavo, 44, [3] pages. In Near Fine condition, with a Near Fine TLS laid-in. Volume is in navy Nigerian goatskin quarter binding with blue marbled paper boards, gilt titling to spine, and text block with gilt top edge. Volume is wrapped in a new archival mylar sleeve. Negligible wear to boards. Text block is clean. Signed by Lyndon Green [typographical design] on copyright page. Signed flat in black ink by Muriel spark on limitation page in the rear of the book. TLS is housed in a white envelope addressed to author Susan Sheehan. Letter is a single sheet, folded into quarters, undamaged and bright. Signed flat in black ink by Muriel Spark ("Muriel") in the bottom margin. In the letter, Spark recounts some health issues stemming from a hip replacement, and requests that Sheehan speak to her biographer about her memories of their friendship in the 1960s. Shelved in Case 7.

1411883

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

Price: $850

NOTES

Second Story Books is honored to offer this item from the personal collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan. Neil Sheehan (1936–2021) and Susan Sheehan (born 1937) were a distinguished husband-and-wife team whose careers helped define American literary journalism in the second half of the twentieth century. Neil Sheehan, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for The New York Times, is best known for his role in bringing the Pentagon Papers to public attention and for his landmark book "A Bright Shining Lie", while Susan Sheehan built a parallel reputation as a leading voice at The New Yorker, crafting deeply reported narrative nonfiction on subjects ranging from mental health to social institutions, earning her own Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Their longstanding ties to major publications, particularly The New Yorker, placed them at the center of an influential cultural and intellectual network, and the books from their library carry added provenance through this close connection to the magazine’s editorial and artistic community.