Master of the House

FIRST UK TRADE EDITION. 8vo. Publisher's original sand-coloured cloth, lettered in orange, bottom board blind-stamped with Cape's device. Bottom edge rough trimmed. A touch soiled and dust-darkened, pushing and wear to extremities. Edges toned, scatter of faint spots to leading edge. Uneven toning to pastedowns, occasional fox spots. Else, clean and bright. In the original red and black typographical dust jacket: price-clipped, grubby and splodged, spine-darkened, a number of losses, chips, creasing and closed tears.

Nevertheless, a rather pleasing copy of Hall's first literary appearance after the banning of The Well of Loneliness in 1928.

Hall was an early guest at a Foyles Literary Luncheon on 17 March 1932, held to mark the publication of The Master of the House; the first lunch had been held only two years earlier, with the monthly event at the Dorchester Hotel rapidly became a literary tradition. Despite, or perhaps because of, the banning and scandal circling Hall's previous novel, The Well of Loneliness (1928), 700 people came to hear them speak and sign copies afterwards (Souhami, 1999).

Set in Provence, Hall's protagonist, Christophe Marie Bénédit, is a Christ-like figure, through whom, according to Una Troubridge, Hall sought to make amends for Beresford Egan's crass caricature of Hall-on-the-cross in The Sink of Solitude (1928). The novel was not a success in either the UK or US and proved another painful book for Hall, who apparently suffered symptoms akin to stigmata during its production (Souhami, 1999).
Published in the same year as Signed, Limited edition (see our copy ref. 2433).