Complete in two volumes. Both volumes first editions, first impressions. vi, 336pp; vi, 337-706pp. Uniformly bound in red cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on spines. 8vo. Cloth on both volumes is very slightly rubbed and rounded on spine ends and corner points. Text block edges a little dull. Previous owner's name neatly inked on front free endpapers. There's a little offset toning on front free endpaper of volume one, both volumes have some faint and occasional spotting on first and last few leaves. Dust wrappers are worn and chapped all round edges, rubbed and cracking on folds, with some short closed nicks, and old tape repairs and strengthening. Dust wrappers made smartly presentable by the addition of archival-quality Mylar wrappers, fitted after photographing without the use of tape or adhesives. Newspaper clipping relating to The Man on a Donkey loosely laid in.
A complete first edition set of H F M (Hilda Frances Margaret) Prescott's finest work. Written in the form of a chronicle, the story is set during the reign of Henry VIII and explores the protests, including the Pilgrimage of Grace against the dissolution of the monasteries. Prescott was a talented historian as well as a novelist and her biography of Mary I won the James Tait Black prize in 1941. In our opinion, The Man on a Donkey is among the finest examples of historical fiction and Prescott too often overlooked as a talented writer. Hard to find complete two volume set.
