The Anglo-Catholic; A Sequel to 'The Cantab'
London: Chatto & Windus, 1929. 12 mo., original red cloth, spine and front board titled in black, top edge red. Small bookseller's label, spine lean, mild spotting and toning to boards, lettering still dark. Very good indeed. Item #1773
"MAGIC IS ALWAYS CONTAINED IN WORDS. WORDS MAKE WATER HOLY. WORDS MAKE MEN PRIESTS. WORDS MAKE BREAD GOD"
First edition of The Anglo-Catholic—Shane Leslie's follow-up novel to The Cantab. With a small gold bookseller's (priced) ticket for Books Inc on Sutter Street in San Francisco.
"Leslie’s greatest literary success in his own lifetime came in the novel form. In particular, his sequence, The Oppidan (1922), The Cantab (1926), and The Anglo-Catholic (1929), which recount the semi-autobiographical journey of a sensitive soul from a rigid and cheerless Church of England upbringing towards an ecstatic embrace of Catholicism in a manner reminiscent of J.K. Huysman’s Durtal" (Derek John).
Like The Cantab, the Anglo-Catholic was published by Chatto & Windus with a series of epigraphs printed on the title page, including a quote from John Inglesant: "I am myself crushed between the upper and nether millstones of contrary reports, for I suffer equal obloquy both for being a Papist and a Purtain." Also with the author's Dedication, to Dr. Alexander Nairne (Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University) referring to the "criticism roused by The Cantab." Derek John. The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature No. 13 (Bealtaine 2019).
Price: $30.00