Details
WHITE, T.H. England Have My Bones, London, Pall Mall, 1936, 8°, FIRST EDITION, SIGNED by White on title and INSCRIBED "This is the least favourtite of my books to me," wood-engraved illustrations after the author (light spotting), original black cloth, spine lettered in white (lettering slightly faded); The Elephant and the Kangaroo, London, Jonathan Cape, 1948, 8°, FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on front blank in red ink: "Dearest John -- This is the only good book I have ever written and so I can't persuade anybody to read it. Please, please be kind to me and like it", title signed by White in red ink, original light blue cloth, lettered in green, dust-jacket. (2)
England Have My Bones was put together from various diaries, "a book that gave minimum trouble since it was written already and only selection and tidying was needed." The Elephant and the Kangaroo, the story of how the Archangel Michael "came down the kitchen chimney of Doolistown House to warn the McDonaghs and their lodger that a Flood was coming and an Ark must be built," was the fruit of those years White spent in Ireland during World War Two. When the American edition was published in March 1947, it "roused fierce indignation among Irish-Americans, incensed by a book which laughed both at the Irish Republic and at Holy Ireland" (Warner). (2)
England Have My Bones was put together from various diaries, "a book that gave minimum trouble since it was written already and only selection and tidying was needed." The Elephant and the Kangaroo, the story of how the Archangel Michael "came down the kitchen chimney of Doolistown House to warn the McDonaghs and their lodger that a Flood was coming and an Ark must be built," was the fruit of those years White spent in Ireland during World War Two. When the American edition was published in March 1947, it "roused fierce indignation among Irish-Americans, incensed by a book which laughed both at the Irish Republic and at Holy Ireland" (Warner). (2)