Our Three Selves: Life of Radclyffe Hall
by Baker, Michael [Edited by]
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0241115396
- ISBN 13
- 9780241115398
- Seller
-
ELY, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Hamish Hamilton. Very Good/Very Good. 1985. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0241115396 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Original cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership inscription. xiv, 386 pages clean and tight. Our Three Selves is the first comprehensive biography of Radclyffe Hall, the writer whose lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness was banned as `obscene' in a sensational court case in 1928. Drawing on much unpublished material - diaries, letters, essays - as well as her poetry and novels, Michael Baker throws fresh light on this extraordinary woman's early life and her two major love affairs, with the singer Mabel Batten (Ladye) and with Una Troubridge, the wife of a distinguished Admiral. Ladye and Una formed with John, as Radclyffe Hall liked to be called, an uneasy menage a trois - until Ladye's death in 1916. Thereafter John and Una kept `in touch' with Ladye through a medium, and later, as a tribute to their `sacred' trio, Radclyffe Hall dedicated her novels to Our Three Selves. When, in the 1930s, John began a long affair with another woman, it was to Ladye's `spirit' that Una turned for guidance and consolation. Radclyffe Hall was an unlikely target for judicial prosecution. Wealthy, politically conservative, devout, and established as a successful novelist, she stoutly upheld the traditional values of hearth and home. Yet she believed she was born a homosexual and saw herself as a `freak', as a man trapped in a woman's body, dressing accordingly in a flamboyantly masculine style all her own. She grew up lonely, sensitive and insecure. Despite converting to Catholicism, she remained a lifelong spiritualist. Shy and unintellectual by nature, she nevertheless attracted frequent public controversy throughout a turbulent career. Although she found happiness with Ladye and Una, the unresolved conflicts in her personality drove her to acts of infidelity against both which caused pain and anguish. jacket design by Cherriwyn Magill. Photograph on the front of the jacket of Radclyffe Hall (`john') as a young woman: Photography Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. Photograph on the back of John in her Chinese silk smoking jacket: National Portrait Gallery Size: 8vo. .
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Details
- Bookseller
- CHARLES BOSSOM (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 140404
- Title
- Our Three Selves: Life of Radclyffe Hall
- Author
- Baker, Michael [Edited by]
- Format/Binding
- Hard Cover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good/Very Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0241115396
- ISBN 13
- 9780241115398
- Publisher
- Hamish Hamilton
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1985
Terms of Sale
CHARLES BOSSOM
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About the Seller
CHARLES BOSSOM
Biblio member since 2010
ELY, Cambridgeshire
About CHARLES BOSSOM
Charles Bossom has worked in the Book Trade since 1963, commencing at WH Smith Oxford and retiring in 1999 as Regional Manager Central England. The Charles Bossom bookselling business was started in early 2000. We offer a changing selection of old and out-of-print books in a wide range of subjects. We frequently add new items to our stock so visit us regularly.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...