Sharpe’s Company double signed with a sketch Bernard Cornwell first edition 1982

London: Collins, 1982
 
8vo., olive green publisher’s boards ruled and lettered in gilt to backstrip; in the unclipped dust wrapper designed by Alan Peacock, with a cover illustration by Tony Kerins; pp. [x], 11-280; a near-fine copy, very light spotting and marking to the outer edge of the text block, as well as on the rear free endpaper; in the very good jacket slightly toned, and foxed to the rear flap; sunned along the backstrip but otherwise bright and unrestored. 
 
First edition of Cornwell’s third book in the Richard Sharpe adventure series. This copy double signed by both Cornwell and Kerins to the title page. The illustrator has also provided an original sketch in pencil and biro to the half-title, showing an army at camp. Sharpe’s Company follows the adventures of the protagonist in the early months of 1812, this time based on real-life events which led to the taking of Ciudad Rodrigo and the Siege of Badajoz. 
 
Cornwell read History at UCL, and attempted to enlist in the British Army three times, but was rejected at each turn as a result of poor eyesight. Inspired by C.S. Forester's Hornblower, and by accounts of the Napoleonic Wars, he began to write works of historical fiction, with Sharpe’s Eagle appearing in 1981. Originally intending to begin with this account of the  Siege of Badajoz, he instead decided to "warm-up" with a couple of novels, both published in 1981 and focusing on the Peninsular Wars. 
 
Tony Kerins studied at the Royal College of Art, where he was tutored by Quentin Blake before being commissioned by Harper Collins to illustrate the dust jackets for Cornwell’s iconic series. He was just 18 at the time he signed the contract. Kerin’s depiction of Sharpe was therefore the first to be seen by readers, years before Sean Bean would put a face to the name. 
 
Unique thus.