TWO CHEERS FOR DEMOCRACY Signed by Forster.
London: Edward Arnold, [1951].
1st Edition. Hardcover. First edition. Octavo. Bound in the publisher’s original blue cloth, clean, spine gilt-lettered, top edge red. A solid copy internally. Signed by E.M. Forster on the title page in black ink.
In the rare original unclipped dust jacket, showing browning to the spine, some edgewear, several short tears, and a chip to the upper right corner of the front panel. Now preserved in an archival mylar sleeve.
This copy bears the bookplate of P.A.M. Clemoes (1920–1996), renowned Anglo-Saxonist and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Some offsetting to ffe. Affixed to the rear endpaper is a contemporary newspaper clipping from The Times featuring a photograph and report on a luncheon held at King’s College, Cambridge, where E.M. Forster was the guest of honour, alongside Mr. N.G. Annam. The clipping creates a vivid contextual link to Forster’s place in postwar academic and public life.
The inner hinges are worn and partially separated, with visible tearing to the inside joints; the book remains sound and unrestored. The decision to preserve rather than repair has been left to the next custodian. A well-used and evidently well-regarded copy by Clemoes.
An important and rare association copy, signed and in original condition, combining personal and historical connection to Cambridge.
E.M. Forster entered King’s College, Cambridge in 1897 and later became one of its most prominent literary Fellows. Elected as an Honorary Fellow in 1946, he moved back permanently in 1953, residing in Old Court until his death in 1970. King’s was Forster’s intellectual home for over seven decades and now holds the majority of his manuscripts and personal papers.
Peter Clemoes was a leading figure in Anglo-Saxon studies. After military service in World War II, he completed his PhD at King’s College, Cambridge in 1956 and later succeeded Dorothy Whitelock as Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1969. A Fellow of Pembroke College, Clemoes contributed significantly to early medieval philology and textual scholarship. His ownership of this volume offers a compelling intersection between two major strands of Cambridge intellectual life — literary humanism and early English philology.
Item #34127 Price: US$2,000.00