First Quartet edition. Octavo. Original pictorial paper wrappers.
 
With a long inscription by J.L. Carr to the first page, continuing to the title page:
 
“It seems so long ago since this was written but I think that I had in mind a serious report on what goes on in schools which teachers might read. (Unknown to successive government committees, teachers normally don’t read their reports).
“But I’m told by current practitioners that, nowadays, schools aren’t like Tampling St. Nicholas, so the effort was wasted.
“However, so long as schools do contains teachers and children, I find this difficult to believe....
“On the other hand, I believe that this original noble aim slumped as the story developed and, as in all decent novels, its characters took over. probably the title should have been:
THE FALL & RISE OF GEORGE HARPOLE
Jim Carr, 1992.”
 
A very good copy, quite rubbed.
 
PROVENANCE: Christopher Challis (1946-1997), poet and friend of J.L. Carr.