THE LAST POOL: AND OTHER STORIES.

1950 1st edition. Small 8vo (130 x 190mm). Ppviii,216. First issue (Binding A. Light green cloth with dark blue spine titles).

Thirteen short stories about the countryside: three of them with a theme of trout or salmon fishing in Ireland; several on fox-hunting in Ireland and in Snowdonia; one on The Drawing Of The Curranwood Badgers; and the others largely on wildfowling, shooting and poaching. The author was born Richard Patrick Russ, changing his name by deed-poll in 1945. He wrote several books under his birth-name and a great number as Patrick O'Brian, including the Aubrey-Maturin series of maritime novels. The Last Pool was the first book he had published under his new pen-name. There are two variant bindings of this book. Binding A. First issue. Light green cloth with spine title printed in dark blue. (130mm x 190mm). Binding B. Second issue. Yellow paper-covered boards with spine title printed in red. Slightly smaller format than the first issue (130mm x 185mm). Apart from the 5mm difference in height, the dust-wrappers of the two issues are the same. This copy is of the first issue - Binding A*. Small ink initials top corner of front end-paper; scattered light foxing;cloth patchily faded, particularly beneath a 10mm hole in the spine of the dust-wrapper. Still a presentable copy of a book which remains very scarce in this condition.