A Book Surprise

You know me - it's not unusual that I buy a book or two, now and then. The other day was one of those days - I spotted A Fairy Leapt Upon My Knee by Bea Howe mentioned in the Sylvia Townsend Warner / David Garnett letters, and it sounded like it might be useful for my thesis, as well as quite interesting. Bea Howe was a friend of Sylvia TW's, as well as Bloomsbury enough to warrant this rather nice portrait by Duncan Grant:


Anyway, said book arrived. Or, rather I had to go to the Royal Mail Sorting Office and pay £1.97 to get it, because the people sending it hadn't put enough stamps on the parcel. I was a little miffed about this, but soon didn't mind AT ALL. Here is the book (and I've taken the opportunity to show you the new cushion I bought, called 'Moggy')


I opened the parcel whilst I walked down street, as one does, and flipped it open... this is what I saw:


Could this be true? Could this copy be from the library of Richard Garnett, the editor of the Garnett/Warner letters? Surely a coincidence?

And then my eyes flicked over to the right-hand side... and there it was:


OHMYGOODNESS. David Garnett, much beloved (to me) author of Lady into Fox had owned this book. The book I bought because it was mentioned in his published letters. I got home and checked the signature against his online - they matched.

Breathe, Simon, breathe.

Any books in your libraries that are exciting for similar reasons? The nearest I've had before was the copy of The Priory by Dorothy Whipple which I bought, and discovered upon arriving home held her signature. Fun!