Counting My Chickens. . . and Other Home thoughts. [Author SIGNED copy.]

UK,slim,small 8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,reprint.[First published 2001, reprinted twice in same year,and again twice in both 2002 and 2003, 2004,and 2006-2008 inclusive.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn but author's neat,handwritten,recognisable,blue ink signature - without dedication - to top of title page and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of publisher's printed price.Bright,crisp,clean, glossy laminated,subject's autobiographical colour photographic illustrated dw/dj,with b/w lettering; with negligible shelf-wear, bumping or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/ backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,slim,small 8vo HB+dw/dj, 1st edn,5-174pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,an introduction by Sir Tom Stoppard (one of the world's greatest contemporary playwrights),biographical anecdotes/memories/jottings, interspersed b/w line illustrations - all by Will Topley - throughout the text and the book; plus [unpaginated] half-title page,SIGNED title page with dedication to verso. \\the unmistakeable voice of Deborah Devonshire,the youngest of the Mitford sister,rings out of this volume of her occasional writings - see my book ID rja694017 for UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn 'All in One Basket: Nest Eggs.' for her first volume of occasional writings which comprises this title and 'Home to Roost' - see my book ID rja731417 for a SIGNED example. Entertaining,instructive,thought-provoking and hilarious by turns, this wildly assorted collection of articles could be by absolutely no one but the Duchess of Devonshire.Tom Stoppard,in his adoring introduction,notes that;; here you will find the amazed and disgusted little boy who announced "I'll never drink milk again" after watching the milking demonstration at the Chatsworth Farmyard, and the eco-militant who rang her neighbour in fury to demand "Why have you poisoned all your dahlias?" after an unseasonal frost.Debo also knows which puffball fungi are good to eat,about trees,sheep,goats,chickens, cookery,housekeeping and a hundred other things' She writes here about her happy,eccentric childhood among the rest of the Mitford clan,life at Chatsworth, friends,clothes,politicians, Harold Macmillan, frogs. . . and Evis Presley. Affectionate,shrewd and uproariously funny,her no-nonsense, bang-on-the-nail observations are as good as any antidepressant. Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford Cavendish,Duchess of Devonshire, was brought up in Oxfordshire,England.In 1950 her husband,Andrew, the 11th Duke of Devonshire,inherited extensive estates in Yorkshire and Ireland as well as Chatsworth,the family seat in Derbyshire and Deborah became chatelaine of one of England's great houses.She is the author of 'Wait for Me!', 'Counting My Chickens' and 'Home to Roost', among other books, and her letters have been collected in 'The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters' and 'In Tearing Haste: The Correspondence of the Duchess of Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor'.Following her husband's death in 2004,she moved to a village on the Chatsworth estate. Please contact seller @ rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and smaller size of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.