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FIRST EDITIONS. 1st printings. Three volumes. 8vo. (7.5 X 5 Inches). Bright and clean copies throughout in fine recent leather bindings of full dark blue morocco, the spines with five raised bands, compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Single ruled gilt border on boards. All edges gilt. Sassoon's masterpiece of autobiographical fiction. One of the great literary works of the twentieth century. ---The first volume was published anonymously in an edition of just 1500 copies and is scarce. A limited edition, signed by Sassoon, was published later in 1928 and matching limited and signed volumes were issued alongside the publication of the two other volumes.

First edition. Publisher's blue cloth, lettered gilt, in the blue printed dustwrapper. Inscribed by Sassoon on the half-title, "H. F. Thompson. From his very (and affectionate) old friend Siegfried Sassoon. Heytesbury. Dec. 16. 1936." A very good copy in a very good dustwrapper, some toning and wear to spine. An excellent association copy. H. F. Thompson was a childhood friend of Sassoon's, whom he met at Henley House. Sassoon much preferred Henley House to Marlborough, as Egremont notes in his biography of Sassoon: "In this gentler place Sassoon made greater friends than at Marlborough: Henry Thompson from Cumberland, again a golfer with a 'delightful cronyish quality'." Later, when Sassoon was wrestling with his first volume of autobiography, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, he dined with Thompson. Egremont notes that "On 21 November [1926] he could not work, an accumulation of insomnia and low spirits, then after dinner with H. F. Thompson, a childhood friend, talk about the memoirs led to another 500 words".

An uncommonly handsome set of Sassoon's celebrated World War I trilogy, one of the great classics of English literature (Fox-Hunting Man was awarded both the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Prize). First Impressions of the three separately published volumes. Crown 8vo (186 x 122mm): 395, [1]; 334, [2]; 280pp. Uniformly bound in publisher's French blue cloth, spines lettered in gold, top edges stained, respectively, saffron, pink, and reddish brown; plain paper dust jackets, all priced 7/6, cream printed in blue (Fox-Hunting Man), pale yellow printed in black (Infantry Officer), and French blue printed in black and red. Fox-Hunting Man: Published anonymously, in an edition of only 1500 copies. Misprint on line 1 of p. 191 ('merey' for 'merely'), but 'platoon' spelled correctly on penultimate line of p. 365. (According to Keynes, the "typographical irregularities have no significance whatever.") End sheeted spotted and offset, spine a touch embrowned, skillfully closed short triangular tear to front panel, else an excellent example, Near Fine or better. Infantry Officer: A superb copy, binding square and tight (lightly read, if at all), contents clean throughout, jacket lightly rubbed to top of spine panel. Sherston's Progress: Another superlative copy, the jacket especially so; certainly unread. Bibliotheca Bibliographici 3701, 3709, 3754. Keynes A30, A33, A40. Falls, pp. 295, 306-07. In the late 1920s, Sassoon turned to the prose sequence that occupied him for nearly two decades, the trilogy published as The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, in 1937, in which the central character is a lightly fictionalized version of the young author. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

FIRST EDITIONS, pp. 395; 334; 280, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrips lettered in gilt, cloth to first volume faintly mottled, that to backstrip of second volume gently faded, slight lean to spine of first and last volumes, different colour topstain to each volume, a few spots to edges, light spotting to endpapers, the flyleaf of third volume with faint contemporary pencil ownership inscription, dustjackets, backstrip panels gently sunned and a little nicked at tips, first two volumes with some faint spots to borders of flaps, the third volume with the original pink wraparound band, a very good set. An excellent set of Sassoon's celebrated memoirs, beginning in childhood but dominated by the Great War; the veil of anonymity established in the first volume, is partially lifted in the second volume, where the author's identity is disclosed on the binding and dustjacket (but not on the title-page), and entirely by the time of the last instalment. (Keynes A30a; A33a; A40a)

FIRST PRINTINGS OF ALL THREE VOLUMES OF ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF WORLD WAR ONE LITERATURE. The first volume is by Faber & Gwyer with the second two bearing the imprint of Faber and Faber after the firm name changed. All three volumes in fine condition with dustjackets in near fine condition. The jackets show traces of shelf wear and the spine of Infantry Officer is slightly rubbed; jackets otherwsie clean and intact with original prices. A much nicer set than normally found, particularly the scarce first volume. Sassoon's trilogy of autobiographical novels is not only a masterpiece of Great War Literature but also considered to be one of the finest works of 20th century English literature.

3 vols., 8vo., First Edition thus, on laid paper, free endpapers lightly browned as often; original blue buckram, gilt backs, gilt tops, uncut, backstrips lightly sunned (but all gilt wholly bright and legible), a very good, bright, clean set. EDITIONS LIMITED TO 260/750/300 NUMBERED COPIES RESPECTIVELY, ALL SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR (THESE COPIES NOS. 181, 201, 242 RESPECTIVELY). Sassoon's classic fictional autobiographical trilogy comprises: Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928), Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) and Sherston's Progress (1936). COMPLETE SETS ARE VERY SCARCE, ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONDITION. Keynes, A30b, A33b, A40b respectively.

Signed limited editions, each signed and numbered by the author, numbers 3 of 260, 592 of 750, and 12 of 300 copies respectively. The Sherston trilogy is Sassoon's lightly fictionalized autobiography, detailing his lonely youth, his idle years as a country gentleman, and his military service on the Western Front. Immediately successful, the work "was awarded the Hawthornden and James Tait Black memorial prizes, and was quickly accepted as a classic of its kind - an elegy for a way of life which had gone forever" (ODNB). The signed limited editions of Infantry Officer and Sherston's Progress were published simultaneously with the first trade editions; Fox-Hunting Man was issued one month after the trade edition and "was an afterthought, made when the success of the ordinary edition was assured and the identity of the author known" (Keynes). Keynes A30b, A33b, A40b. 3 vols, octavo. Original blue buckram, spines lettered in gilt, top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Light bumping, rubbing, and sunning, slight browning to endpapers, various leaves unopened: a very good, internally fresh set.

FIRST EDITIONS, ONE OF 260 'LARGE PAPER' SETS, each volume numbered (out of 260, 750, and 300 copies respectively) and signed by the author, printed on English handmade paper, pp. 395; 334; 280, 8vo, original blue buckram, backstrips lettered in gilt with variable fading (successively less), the first volume with some very gentle marginal fading to the upper board also, t.e.g., others untrimmed and slightly toned, first volume with some light spotting to endpapers, third volume with free endpapers browned, the first volume with the bookplate of author Richard Adams (all volumes from his library), very good. The set of author Richard Adams, whose library, dispersed at auction, was notably strong in poetry and memoirs of the First World War - his bookplate an engraved design featuring a rabbit.