Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man

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The only other significant character in these memoirs (aside from genial old Aunt Evelyn who remains mostly a passive and amiable figure in the background) is the enigmatic Denis Milden, a young fox hunter hero-worshipped by Sherston in his younger days who eventually reappears as a Master of the Hunt whose friendship and approval George prizes above almost all else. VG copy [scattered light creasing, top edge foxing] in spine toned Dust Wrapper with a few short edge tears/nicking. All of this Edwardian badinage only makes it the more painful when he sees his cosy world come crashing down with the outbreak of the First World War, a narrative intrusion that is carefully held off until near the end of the book. The novel ends at the beginning of Sherston’s time in the trenches, when the horror of it all was becoming clear.

You cannot avoid the fox hunting in this novel, however there appears again to be ambivalence from Sassoon. This 1st (illustrated) edition 1st printing/impression published in October 1929 is in very good to near fine condition.

This led me to revisiting the War Poets, and, lo and behold, on my bookshelf, was a somewhat tatty school copy of 'Memoirs'. He is so passionate about what he does that he drops out of cambridge university where he was to study the law and become a barrister.

Men under his charge die instantly and largely without comment, or quietly suffer a life of indignity and squalor in the name of a country whose concerns and existence seem more than a world away.Very Good, boards slightly bowed, light shelf wear, a couple of small stains, no dust jacket, fading to spine.

So uncertain was he of the wisdom of this move that he elected to publish Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man anonymously. Now and and again a leisurely five-nine shell passes overhead in the blue air where the larks are singing.I can hear the creak of the saddle and the clop and clink of the hoofs as we cross the bridge over the brook by Dundell Farm; there is a light burning in the farmhouse window, and the evening star glitters above a broken drift of half-luminous cloud. The first volume is one of 260 copies, the second one of 750 copies and the third one of 300 copies.