Nursery Rhymes.

London: Michael Joseph,, 1950. The dedication copy, inscribed to her lover First trade edition, first impression, the dedication copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page, "for Anna, her private copy, with the author's love. Christmas 1950", with the printed dedication struck through. This copy was bound for presentation by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. The recipient, Anna "Mac" Macmillan (d.1962), became Vita's secretary at Sissinghurst in 1936, and her lover in 1938. Their affair began in autumn, when war with Germany seemed inevitable: "the household was issued with gas masks, and a trench dug in the orchard... Vita's response to the tension had been to allow Mac, her Scottish Presbyterian secretary, to fall in love with her" (Glendinning, p. 295). Macmillan left Sissinghurst during the war to become a nurse with the Queen Alexandra Nursing Service; Sackville-West wrote to her almost every day until her return in 1945, and their affair continued intermittently until 1953, when Sackville-West bought Macmillan a house in nearby Deal. Octavo (203 x 134 mm). Bound for presentation by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in blue crushed morocco, spine lettered in gilt, two raised bands dotted in gilt, compartments and covers with single gilt fillet border, turn-ins ruled in gilt, edges gilt. Frontispiece, title page, and illustrations to the text, all in pink, by Philippe Jullian. Binding a little rubbed, tiny abrasion to head of spine, endpapers lightly foxed and browned from turn-ins with traces of bookplate removal, partially erased ink stamp and small pale stain to title page, contents otherwise clean. A very good copy. Cross & Ravenscroft-Hulme A45b. Victoria Glendinning, Vita: The Life of Vita Sackville-West, 1983.