LEE, Laurie; WARD, John, illustrator — Cider with Rosie

London: The Hogarth Press, 1959. Advance Issue in Wrappers - With the Suppressed Piano Factory Passage A Pre-Publication Form of Cider With Rosie LEE, Laurie. Cider With Rosie. With drawings by John Ward. London: The Hogarth Press, 1959. Advance (proof or pre-publication) issue, preceding the cloth-bound first edition; text of the suppressed first issue, containing the passage describing the piano factory fire (p. 272), later excised. Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 1/8 inches; 197 x 130 mm.). [1], [1, blank], [1-8], 9-280, [1], [3, blank] pp. Black-and-white line drawings throughout, including frontispiece. Publisher's original pale gray wrappers, front cover lettered in black. A near fine copy, exceptionally well preserved for this fragile format. The rare advance issue of Cider with Rosie, preceding the published cloth edition and retaining the earliest state of the text, including the now-famous suppressed passage describing the piano factory fire on p. 272. Removed at the request of those who objected to its inclusion, the passage was excised from subsequent printings, making all copies preserving it - particularly in pre-publication form - distinctly uncommon. Such wrappered issues were typically produced in small numbers for review, editorial circulation, or internal use, and are rarely encountered in superior condition. Their ephemeral nature renders survival rates low, especially compared to the trade edition. Lee's evocation of rural Gloucestershire - its rhythms, textures, and vanishing traditions - remains one of the most lyrical achievements of postwar English prose. As J. B. Priestley observed, the book is "an exquisite farewell..to an England that has vanished.". .