Mitford, Nancy (1949) ‘Love in a Cold Climate’, UK first edition with handwritten and signed letter

Nancy Mitford (1949) ‘Love in a Cold Climate‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Hamish Hamilton. Together with an original handwritten and signed letter by Nancy Mitford.

Condition of the book: a very good copy. No inscriptions, no bookplates, no stamps. Shelf wear to boards’ edges and toning to page block. The dust jacket has a chip to the bottom of the spine. It is NOT price clipped. Fortification tape on the reverse. Spine slightly faded.

The letter: one sheet, two pages, handwritten on Mitford’s stationary bearing her Versailles address. Dated 20 Feb 1968. Written to Brian Pearce who was a linguist and scholar and remained friends with Mitford until her death in 1973. In full: “Dear Mr Pearce, Honestly publishers! I met an up & coming young man who is to put Nelson’s on the map; after a long conversation at cross purposes I tumbled to the fact that he thinks Frederick the Great & Hohenstauffen are the same person. One is always hearing about A or O levels but what do they do for people? Raymond Mortimer was here & I put your book in his bedroom – he fell upon it & said he would send in some more words so I said that there was difficulty over a publisher & he then observed that of course it is really for foreigners more than for English people which may partly acoount for the difficulty. I didn’t see Gladwyn’s letter luckily for him but I’ve passed on your observation. Thanks very much for sending your article which I enjoyed. Yours sincerely Nancy Mitford.” The letter is in very good condition with mild creases and handling wear.

‘Love in a Cold Climate’ (1949) is, together with ‘The Pursuit of Love’ (1945), regarded as Mitford’s best work of fiction.