A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Complete in fifteen volumes comprising 'The Dark Lantern', 'Donkey Boy', 'Young Phillip Maddison', 'How Dear is Life', 'A Fox Under my Cloak', 'The Golden Virgin', 'Love and the Loveless', 'A Test to Destruction', 'The Inn by HENRY WILLIAMSON

Macdonald, London 1951-1969. A first edition (first printing) set of Williamson's celebrated semi-autobiographical sequence of fifteen novels which explore the fortunes of one family during the first half of the twentieth century. 8vo. Several top edges lightly dust marked, with just a hint of light partial browning to two or three free endpapers. Former owner name and date neatly inked to the front free endpaper of all but one volume, in each instance accompanied by a small area of surface abrasion (possibly a result of somebody trying to obscure this signature), but the impact is extremely minor. One volume ('The Gale of the World') also contains a tiny dealer plate to the front pastedown, and another volume ('The Golden Virgin') exhibits some top- and fore edge spotting, and the binding is a little cocked. An extremely crisp set in the original James Broom-Lynne-designed pictorial dust wrappers, none of which have been price-clipped. A number exhibit a little minor rubbing and chafing to the spine ends, and some occasional minor dust soiling to the predominantly white rear panels. The publisher s red spine panel colouring to 'Love and the Loveless' is faded as is so often the case although this example much less so that is customary. The only dust wrapper that is graded below very good is Donkey Boy which exhibits some taped reinforcement and restoration. A very nice example of an increasingly scarce set - a Burgess Ninety-Nine.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good.