The Life and Death of Harriet Frean by May Sinclair first edition 1922

London: W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1922
 
4to., pink cloth, with titles in gilt to spine and upper board; preserved in the original matching dust jacket printed in purple; outer edge untrimmed; pp. [iv], 184, [iv]; a very good copy, with slight lean and compression, endpapers offset, with spotting to edges and prelims; publisher’s 4-page advertisement catalogue to rear entirely unopened; the surviving dust jacket sunned along spine, spreading to both panels, and along the upper edge; a little creased and nicked, with one discrete internal tape repair to verso. 
 
First edition. Number 26 in the Virago Modern Classics list. 
 
May Sinclair was an active suffragette and literary critic, who is first to be attributed to using the term ‘stream of consciousness’ in a literary context. During the course of her lifetime she wrote almost 25 novels on such diverse subjects as romance, psychoanalytic thought (influenced by Freud), supernatural fiction, and her experiences aiding wounded Belgian soldiers on the front during the First World War. Described as a ‘small, perfect gem of a book’ by Jonathan Coe, The Life and Death of Harriet Frean explores themes of female virtue, self-sacrifice and the conflict this has with human passions. 
 
A scarce book in and of itself, even more so in the highly elusive dust jacket.