H.G. Wells and Rebecca West.

Macmillan, London., 1974. First edition. Octavo. pp xvi, 215. Illustrated with sketches by Wells and photographs. H.G. Wells and Rebecca West began a ten-year affair in 1913 when he was 46 and she was 20.Presentation copy from Rebecca West, inscribed by her on the front free endpaper: ''All my love to June Fenby - Rebecca West 1974''. The recipient was employed as a secretary by Rebecca West in the late twenties. She later married Charles Fenby. Loosely inserted are a number of highly interesting and amusing pieces of correspondence: thirteen signed letters and postcards, some autograph, some typed, dated from the late twenties to the mid sixties from West to Head/Fenby; three long typed letters, signed, from West to Charles Fenby; a few other related items, including a few photocopies of letters to West; a three-page typescript, with a few corrections, of an article by West, ''One Day in Soviet Russia''. In these letters Rebecca West is far from reticent when it comes to offering her opinions on her family and acquaintances, with her son Anthony especially coming in for scathing comments after the publication of his book Heritage, a roman à clef highly critical of her in particular.Letters, etc: folds and creases; very good. Book: very good in very good dustwrapper rubbed at the edges.