A Youth of Fourteen: From the Private Papers of Francis Gresley

First edition, first impression. 100pp. In red cloth-covered boards, with gilt titles on spine, in dust jacket. 12mo. Cloth very slightly rounded at spine ends, else volume is neat, clean, notably bright and tight. In its original dust jacket, bumped at edges, minor chipping at ends of a lightly sunned spine, minor indentation on front fold and a few mild marks. Dust jacket protected in an archival quality Mylar wrapper fitted without the use of tape of adhesives. A sequel to New Face at Repton Hall, A Youth of Fourteen is a historical novel at a triple remove. The pseudonymous Fowkes of 1969 writes as the elderly Francis Gresley in 1892, who in turn describes schooldays at Repton School in the early 1830s. Francis and his friend, Hirst, continue to try to prove that Shakespeare was at Repton and this novel forms an imaginary account of Shakespeare’s time at Repton. Like every Fowkes character, the imaginary Shakespeare displays a keen interest in flagellation. Scarce volume.