A HANDFUL OF DUST (Presentation copy signed by the author)

First edition 5th impression. 348 pages + 3 pages of adverts for other novels by Waugh, frontispiece of Hetton Abbey, light foxing mainly on the preliminary and end pages, marbled paper boards, chipped at the bottom of the upper cover, titled gilt on the spine, a good copy.

The presentation inscription on the front free end paper reads: With best wishes from Evelyn Waugh.

A Handful of Dust was first published in 1934, and is often grouped with the author's early, satirical comic novels for which he became famous in the pre-World War II years. Commentators have, however, drawn attention to its serious undertones, and have regarded it as a transitional work pointing towards Waugh's Catholic postwar fiction.

The book's initial critical reception was modest, but it was popular with the public and has never been out of print. In the years since publication the book's reputation has grown; it is generally considered one of Waugh's best works, and has more than once figured on unofficial lists of the 20th century's best novels.

Waugh had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1930, after which his satirical, secular writings drew hostility from some Catholic quarters. He did not introduce overtly religious themes into A Handful of Dust, but later explained that he intended the book to demonstrate the futility of humanist, as distinct from religious, especially Catholic, values. The book has been dramatised for radio, stage and screen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Handful_of_Dust