ODTAA

London: Heinemann, 1926. First edition, #270 of 275 copies on handmade papersigned by the author, of which 250 are for sale. Publisher's copy. With pictorial folding map of Santa Barbara and surrounding lands in color by E.G. Perman, signed by the artist, tipped in at back. 343 pp. Printed at the London and Norwich Press. 1 vols. 8vo. Bound in full dark brown levant, t.e.g., by the French Binders, Garden City. Front joint with faintest traces of rubbing, spine a little bit toned. Fine. First edition, #270 of 275 copies on handmade papersigned by the author, of which 250 are for sale. Publisher's copy. With pictorial folding map of Santa Barbara and surrounding lands in color by E.G. Perman, signed by the artist, tipped in at back. 343 pp. Printed at the London and Norwich Press. 1 vols. 8vo. Publisher's Copy, Specially Bound. The middle volume of Masefield's informal Santa Barbara trilogy, continuing the sequence picaresque incidents in the "imaginary country on the north-east coast of South America, a tinpot Ruritania run by dictators and financed by the United Sugar Company. This domain, and the jungles encroaching upon it from inland, are entirely the invention of John Masefield (1878-1967), who is now mostly remembered for his turn of the century sea ballads, and for children's fantasies like The Midnight Folk (1927) and The Box of Delights, Or When the Wolves were Running (1935)" (Clute).The map by E.G. Perman (1875-1955), "executed in the same decoratively engrossing style that characterizes his 1928 map of the London Underground" (Clute), was used as a wraparound dust jacket for the trade issue, and issued with the deluxe issue as a folded sheet, here neatly preserved at the end. The title ODTAA is an acronym for One Damn Thing After Another.
The French Binders traces its lineage back to The Club Bindery, founded in 1895 by members of the Grolier Club to provide exceptionally fine binding for American collectors. The Club Bindery moved to Cleveland, where it was successively renamed the Rowfant Bindery (1909-1913), the Booklover's Shop (1914-1917), and finally, The French Binders (1918-1920s), as in-house bindery to Doubelday in Garden City, New York. Doubleday were also owners of the Heinemann firm. Provenance: from the library of Nelson Doubleday. See Clute, The Book Blinders 20