Excerpt: ... eyes were grey, her complexion was white, her features small and delicate, and her hair a beautiful dark brown with gold lights and black shadows in it; her movements were quick and her glance keen; she was like a swallow. It happened when the snows melted and the meadows were flooded; the first fine day in April. The larks were singing over the plains, which were beginning to show themselves once more under the melting snow; the sun shone on the large patches of water, and turned the flooded meadows in the ...
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Excerpt: ... eyes were grey, her complexion was white, her features small and delicate, and her hair a beautiful dark brown with gold lights and black shadows in it; her movements were quick and her glance keen; she was like a swallow. It happened when the snows melted and the meadows were flooded; the first fine day in April. The larks were singing over the plains, which were beginning to show themselves once more under the melting snow; the sun shone on the large patches of water, and turned the flooded meadows in the valley into a fantastic vision. It was on a Sunday after church that this new thing happened. He had often seen Tatiana before: that day she was different and new to him. It was as if a bandage had been taken from his eyes, and at the same moment he realised that Tatiana was a new Tatiana. He also knew that the old world in which he had lived hitherto had crumbled to pieces; and that a new world, far brighter and more wonderful, had been created for him. As for Tatiana, she loved him at once. There was no delay, no hesitation, no misunderstandings, no doubt: and at the first not much speech; but first love came to them straight and swift, with the first sunshine of the spring, as it does to the birds. All the spring and summer they kept company and walked out together in the evenings. When the snows entirely melted and the true spring came, it came with a rush; in a fortnight's time all the trees except the ash were green, and the bees boomed round the thick clusters of pear-blossom and apple-blossom, which shone like snow against the bright azure. During that time Petrushka and Tatiana walked in the apple orchard in the evening and they talked to each other in the divinest of all languages, the language of first love, which is no language at all but a confused medley and murmur of broken phrases, whisperings, twitterings, pauses, and silences
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Seller's Description:
Fine. First Impression (published August 1909 on verso of title page) of this "extremely difficult to find" collection of 25 weird, supernatural, and fantastic stories. Crown 8vo (189 x 121mm): [2], x, 306, [2]pp. Publisher's forest green cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt, bottom edge untrimmed. Inscribed by Baring on fly-leaf, "C. L. from M. B., 1910." "C. L." is identified in a pencil note on the front paste-down as Constance Lytton (Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton [1869-1923], the influential British suffragette and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. An excellent copy with dust-soiled top edge, but square and tightly bound, gilt undiminished, internally fresh. Clute & Grant, p. 85. Sullivan, p. 22. Locke I, p. 27. Most of the stories previously were published in London's Morning Post, including the "outstanding" story "Venus, " featuring astral projection to Earth's sister planet, where enormous mushrooms are fed upon by giant caterpillars; "The Shadow of a Midnight, " about a premonitory vision of murder, and the title tale, a classical myth translated to turn-of-the-century Mayfair. (Sullivan) Baring descended from a long line of financiers (his farther was first Baron Revelstoke, director of the Bank of England and senior partner of Baring Bros.). After Eton and Cambridge, Maurice joined the diplomatic service then worked as a journalist and reported the Russo-Japanese War from Manchuria. Later he was a correspondent in Russia and is credited with introducing Chekov's work to the West. He was widely connected socially, including to some of the Cambridge Apostles, to The Coterie, and to the literary group around G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Many of his poems, stories, and novels, according to the ODNB, "have come to be regarded as minor masterpieces in character study and social depiction, " still appreciated "for the purity and simplicity of their style, and for the sensitivity and erudition which they display." N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
![Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches [Presentation Copy to Constance Lytton]](https://www3.alibris-static.com/imageid/2075847760_t.jpg)
