Heading for the morning bath, I find on a top shelf a book I'd quite forgotten -- Queen Mary and Others, by Osbert Sitwell (yes, Edith's brother.) It's a handsome hardcover, which I evidently bought for 88 cents. It seems to be a first edition, 1975, but alas! a quick trip to Alibris.com reveals that it's still a drug on the market -- used book stores are offering copies for 99 cents today.
Anyhow, what I set out to show you is the footnote on page 30, which I'm having trouble photographing. Sitwell (Sir Osbert, actually) is reporting on a luncheon party --the writing style is catching -- attended by Queen Mary, and he mentions their host's son-in-law -- if you ask me, simply as an excuse to append this brief footnote, 
Hi Edith, Your story reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "Upperclass Twit of the Year". And i was interested to see that you also tape the price (tag) to the front page of the book. Always interesting to know what one paid for a book years later. -Nan
ReplyDeleteHi Edith, Your story reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "Upperclass Twit of the Year". And i was interested to see that you also tape the price (tag) to the front page of the book. Always interesting to know what one paid for a book years later. -Nan
ReplyDeleteWas Kingsley Amis also at the luncheon? This sounds like something from Lucky Jim.
ReplyDeleteSome folks would say that the British aristocracy has been sawing off the branch on which it's been standing for several generations now.
ReplyDeleteScrantoms....
ReplyDelete