The White Dacoit.

MATHER, Berkely [pseudonym of John WESTON-DAVIES] (1909-1996).

London: Collins, 1974. [Crime Thriller] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.384. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to distinctive bookplate on flyleaf: 'For Miss Eileen Cond | with the author's | gratitude and pride | in being included | in her formidable | collection of | contemporary literature | Berkely Mather | Brede, Sussex | 22 October 1974.' Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. A sketch-map to preliminaries. With the dust-jacket illustrated by Colin Backhouse, priced at £2.75. Miss Cond's usual exemplary condition, with a small blue ink date note to fly-leaf. Jacket with a few small rub marks. Fine. A scion of a famous military family posted to the north-west Indian frontier in 1924 slides first into disgrace, and later into a life of murder and crime in the jungles of the Decan. Based on a true story. This copy is fondly inscribed to a personal friend of the author, Eileen Cond, described in a subsequent letter as "my earliest aficionada." Well-known as a prominent collector of modern firsts, Miss Cond was also a correspondent of Ian Fleming, and the first Secretary to the James Bond Fan Club. Author Berkely Mather was much admired by Ian Fleming, and contributed to the screenplay for the first Bond film 'Dr. No' (1962). Item #59107

Price: £350.00