Folio Archives 231: Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield 1979
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1wcarter
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield 1979
First published in 1930, this is the entirely fictitious diary of a married woman in her mid-thirties who lives in rural Devon and is coping with the vicissitudes of the Great Depression. It is a funny, charming, witty and absolutely delightful book to read. The social pretensions, smart fashions and daily inanities of life as a solid English royalist are magnified while she tries to keep up appearances on a dwindling income.
The Folio Society kept this book in print for over three decades after its initial publication as it was such a popular title, and as a small book of 170 pages, relatively inexpensive.
In a narrow vertical format, the book is illustrated with sixteen integrated line drawing vignettes by Nicolas Bentley. There is a ten page introduction by Jilly Cooper.
The book is bound in grey cloth blocked in dark red with a wraparound drawing. The page tops and endpapers are green, while the slipcase (22.6x12.5cm.) is dark red.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
First published in 1930, this is the entirely fictitious diary of a married woman in her mid-thirties who lives in rural Devon and is coping with the vicissitudes of the Great Depression. It is a funny, charming, witty and absolutely delightful book to read. The social pretensions, smart fashions and daily inanities of life as a solid English royalist are magnified while she tries to keep up appearances on a dwindling income.
The Folio Society kept this book in print for over three decades after its initial publication as it was such a popular title, and as a small book of 170 pages, relatively inexpensive.
In a narrow vertical format, the book is illustrated with sixteen integrated line drawing vignettes by Nicolas Bentley. There is a ten page introduction by Jilly Cooper.
The book is bound in grey cloth blocked in dark red with a wraparound drawing. The page tops and endpapers are green, while the slipcase (22.6x12.5cm.) is dark red.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2TabbyTom
Thanks for this post. I'm not a great follower of illustrators, but I've always enjoyed Bentley. I wish Folio handmade more use of him: according to Folio 60, this is one of only two books for which "Nicolas Bentley drew the pictures".
3Jayked
>2 TabbyTom:
Bentley died in 1978, a year before this book was published, so there wasn't the option to use him again. The other book was a collection of Damon Runyan stories for which they reproduced Bentley's earlier drawings for Constable. David Eccles, the "master of pastiche," added a few extra drawings in Bentley's style. It was some style -- he could show and suggest more with a single bold line than most artists could with a potful of ink. But apparently he considered himself primarily a writer, often illustrating his own books. I have a dog-eared Penguin edition of How Can You Bear to be Human that I would hate to lose. He also contributed cartoons to Private Eye back when you could only buy it on street corners.
Bentley died in 1978, a year before this book was published, so there wasn't the option to use him again. The other book was a collection of Damon Runyan stories for which they reproduced Bentley's earlier drawings for Constable. David Eccles, the "master of pastiche," added a few extra drawings in Bentley's style. It was some style -- he could show and suggest more with a single bold line than most artists could with a potful of ink. But apparently he considered himself primarily a writer, often illustrating his own books. I have a dog-eared Penguin edition of How Can You Bear to be Human that I would hate to lose. He also contributed cartoons to Private Eye back when you could only buy it on street corners.
