To Kiss the Crocodile. by Milton, Ernest - 1928

New York.: Harper & Brothers Publishers. Very Good+ in Poor dust jacket. 1928. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo - 19 x 12.5 cm.; 345 pp. Plus 4 pages of publisher's adverts. Blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Bottom corners are bumped and worn. Pages 27/28 and 29/30 have a dog eared crease. Text head is dust soiled with a pea sized brown spot/stain in middle near fore edge (1/16" onto margins) , while the fore edge is browned. Spine has a small dent (1/8") in middle. Surface scratch on front board only visible in reflected light. Otherwise the interior is clean and the binding is solid. Inscription is on the front free end paper and reads "To C. P. Grenekar. (sp ? ) with (? ) every (? ) good wish from the writer Ernest Milton Oct. 3rd, 1929". (Ernest was not the neatest of writers!) Endpapers are a hand-made paper with coloured inclusions. Stated first edition. There is some minor browning of the text page margins due to age. The gilt spine lettering is still bright. The DJ (unclipped and of a rather nice art-deco design) is another matter. It is in 2 pieces with a section (approximately 1" x 1") missing from the middle of the spine panel. The edges are chipped and the whole is browned. The front panel is whole though, 'tis the back panel that is torn. It has not been repaired and is now in a Brodart cover. Milton was the husband of the more well known novelist Naomi Royde-Smith (well known to some I suppose) and is more admired for his acting career with the Old Vic company. All said and done, this is a quite rare signed and inscribed copy. Digital images of any aspect are available upon request.; Signed by Author .