POWYS, THEODORE FRANCIS — Soliloquies of a Hermit

London: Chatto & Windus, 1926. First Edition Thus. First Printing. Hard Cover. Publisher's full blue cloth, gilt lettering on spine. Title page of Andrew Melrose, dated 1926, but with bound-in label stating: "This book is now published by Chatto & Windus" with their address. The book was first published in 1916 as "The Soliloquy of a Hermit" in New York by G. Arnold Shaw. In 1918 it was republished as "Soliloquies of a Hermit" by Andrew Melrose in London. Theodore Francis Powys (1875-1953) belonged to the eccentric, remarkably talented British family, the Powys. His elder brother, John Cowper Powys, is best known as a novelist; he also wrote "A Philosophy of Solitude." The first published work of Theodore Francis Powys was "The Soliloquy of a Hermit," a nonfiction work which was followed by a number of soon-neglected short stories, novels, and fables, culminating in the writer's cryptic 1936 decision to no longer write. "The Soliloquy of a Hermit," described by Powys scholar Marius Buning (in the essay "Modernity and Medievalism in T. F. Powys's Mature Fiction") as being "of lasting value," is a remarkable tour de force not merely foreshadowing T. F. Powys' later fiction, but representing a distillation of an unusual eremitic personality.. The volume is in perfect, pristine condition, aside from a small light stain on the spine directly behind a small hole in the dust jacket, about a quarter of an inch wide, else fine. NEAR FINE/VERY GOOD. 12mo 7" - 7½" tall. 120 pp. Fine in Very Good dust jacket .