THE GO-AWAY BIRD; and other stories

Philadelphia New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1960. First American Edition. Cloth. Fine/Near Fine. 8vo, gray quarter cloth with black spine lettering over gray-&-black hatched boards, Mylar-protected pictorial dust jacket (unclipped) designed by David Lunn, 214 pages + [1]. Author's third book and her first collection of short stories. Contains such stories as: "The Go-Away Bird," "The Black Madonna," "Come Along," "Marjorie, " "Daisy Overend," "Miss Pinkerton"s Apocalypse," "The Pawnbroker"s Wife, " "The Portobello Road," "A Sad Tale"s Best for Winter," "The Seraph and the Zambesi," etc.   Dame Muriel Spark (1918-2006) was a Scottish poet, essayist; and superb short story writer turned brilliant novelist. During World War II, she worked for the Foreign Office in a secret department that produced black disinformation and propaganda, which she described as "detailed truth with believable lies." Of partial Jewish descent, in 1954, Muriel converted to Roman Catholicism after editing the letters of Cardinal John Henry Newman. She felt that her new faith contributed to her gaining the confidence to become a novelist. She was supported in her decision by Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. The Times in 2008 counted her as one of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945." She became well known for polished, comic prose with dark tonalities that that touched upon serious subjects and explored human foibles. Probably the auttor's best known novel is The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie (1961). The novel became a hit, long-running Broadway play starring Vanessa Redgrave and the 1969 film for which Maggie Smith won the Oscar for Best Actress. Muriel Spark's novels The Public Image (1968) and Loitering with Intent (1981) were both short-listed for The Booker Prize. Spark wrote more than 20 novels, seveeral cellections of poetry, criticism, short stories, biographies, and even a few children's books. Superior Condition internally and externally! Copy formerly owned by noted collector Donald Kaufmann.