Monday, March 7, 2016

An embarrassment of riches: more Molly Clavering dustjackets

After I dedicated a post a couple of weeks ago to some lovely Molly Clavering dustjackets sent to me by Jerri Chase—which, let's face it, due to the scarcity of Clavering's books, we're not going to be able to see anywhere else online—I was delighted to receive scans of the dustjackets of three more of Clavering's books. So, to make all of our mouths water even more for books that most of us will never be able to own (at least with original jacket art), I obviously have to share these with you too.

Almost immediately after my last post went up, I got an email from Geraldine Hogg, a fellow D. E. Stevenson discussion list member (an active one, not a perpetual lurker like me), saying that she had two more Clavering books with jackets and would I like her to scan them. Um, yes, please!

Geraldine's titles are Dear Hugo (1955) and Result of the Finals (1957), and she noted that she enjoyed both of them (she said the only Clavering she's read and not enjoyed was Dr. Glasgow's Family from 1960—just FYI for anyone working on starting a collection).

First, here's the rather lovely front and spine of Dear Hugo:


Then, here are the jacket flaps, with a description of the book and an author bio:



And finally, here's the back cover, which has various blurbs about the earlier Mrs. Lorimer's Quiet Summer (ake Mrs. Lorimer's Family) and Because of Sam:


The other book Geraldine has on her shelves (I've asked her if we couldn't arrange housesitting duties for me for extended periods of time—I would certainly be diligent in dusting all of her books—but pesky things like the Atlantic Ocean and my job keep getting in the way) is Result of the Finals. Here's the charming cover:


And here are the flaps, the front with a description of the story and the back with another author bio—but this one has one of the better quality photos of Clavering that I've seen:




And again, there are enticing blurbs for other Clavering novels on the back:


Geraldine also scanned a notice from the beginning of the book, assuring readers that the match portrayed is entirely fictional:


And just to make us all a bit more jealous of Geraldine's collection, she just happened to mention that her copy of Result is signed by the author:


A couple of days after I heard from Geraldine, I also got another email from Jerri, who had recalled that she also had, in her own collection, a copy of the original edition of Near Neighbours, complete with dustjacket, and sent along scans of that one. Here's the front cover:


And the flaps:



And blurbs for other books on the back:


Strange that Spring Adventure is the only Clavering title we've seen so far that advertised other author's work. It looks like Hodder & Stoughton was focused primarily on promoting Clavering's work, while, for better or worse, when she made the shift to Robert Hale they saw her more as one of a pack of romantic authors in their stable (and apparently they didn't see her as that for long, since, as I forgot to mention last time, Spring Adventure was actually the last of Clavering's novels to appear in book form. She continued, as mentioned in my earlier detailed post on her, to publish serialized novels in The People's Friend, but nothing else was published in book form.)

If anyone has copies of any of Clavering's other books with dustjackets, do let me know and we can continue to flesh out our collection! One wonders if any dustjackets even survive for her earliest novels for John Long, or her works from the 30s for Stanley Paul (under the pseudonym B. Mollett)? If any do, they must be extraordinarily rare.

Thanks again to Geraldine and Jerri for sharing these scans!

8 comments:

  1. Oh, thank you very much to Geraldine and Scott for providing access to these DJ images! I was especially taken by Dear Hugo, how I long to walk down that path and into that house! As my riding experience is limited, while I enjoy the Results of the Finals cover art, it is more difficult to imagine myself into the cover. (And, having seen crescents much like the one on Near Neighbors when visiting Edinburgh, it is VERY easy to see myself in that picture!)

    Jerri

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    1. On further study, that isn't a path on the Dear Hugo cover, but a lane. No matter, I still want to walk (or drive) down it and enter that world.

      Jerri

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  2. Oh, charming, and what a treat on this really story (I mean, thunder and lightning and pelting rain stormy!0 Monday morning! I had only seen the cover of Mrs. Lorimer's (sp?) Family, that afellow DESsie, Becky Meyer gave me. AND the paperback cover of the reissue of "Near Neighbros," but the one in Scott's cloumn today is my new favorite. Oh, thank you to Scott - and to Jerri and Geraldine, and everyone who brought these together. WHAT a fun column!
    Tom

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    1. Thanks, Tom! It's just too bad these are so hard to track down!

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  3. I am new to your blog and just love it. These images have reminded me that I have some absolutely beautiful dust jackets from three of Angela Thirkell's novels. I can't part with them just now, but maybe someday I'll send them along to you.

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    1. Thanks, Trisha. Glad you found the blog. And I'm definitely envious of your Thirkell dustjackets!

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  4. As a new member of the DES group, I have been quite intrigued by all the Clavering discussions, and seeing these fabulous dust jackets makes me want to read them, right now!

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    1. They are tantalizing, aren't they? And maybe even more so because the books themselves are so rare. Do check out the Greyladies edition of Near Neighbours if you have a chance, and there are still copies of Mrs. Lorimer's Family floating around.

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