THE ADVENTURES OF THE BLACK GIRL IN HER SEARCH FOR GOD

London: Constable & Company Limited, (1932). First Edition. Hardcover. Foxing to endpapers and to two pages of text. Very Good, lacking the scarce dustwrapper. Pictorial boards and twenty woodblock illustrations within by John Farleigh. Laurence A210a. This copy INSCRIBED and SIGNED to “Catherine Inge/from/Bernard Shaw” and dated “30/11/32” on the half-title page. Pasted to the facing blank page is an AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "G. B. S." from Shaw to “My dear Mrs. Inge” discussing a concert as well as the publication of this book. In full: “It was extraordinarily recreative to hear those boys' voices after the screams of the female bourgeoisie of the (truncated) west country at the Three Choirs Festival. And imagine its being the first time I ever heard a note of music at St. Pauls! THE BLACK GIRL is now equipped with a preface (at the end, as Sir Walter Scott recommended) and a lot of fascinating pictures. The one on page 56 is a speaking likeness of myself in my radiant youth. Keep it on the top shelf out of the Dean's reach. The book will not be published until the 5th." Tipped to the half-title page with a small piece of tape is a short note by the recipient stating that she had lent the book in 1946 for the [National Book League] exhibition for Shaw's 90th birthday. [Mary] Catherine Inge was the wife of William Ralph Inge, the dean of St. Paul's. (Inventory #: 021568)