The Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters (complete set of 6 vols, vols 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 signed)

John Murray, 0. 1st edition of each of the six volumes, 1979-1984. Hardcover. The boards of all the volumes are in good order, with very clean pages throughout. Volume 2 is signed by Hart-Davis 'For Ivan/with old affection/from Rupert/September 79' (this was Ivan Chambers, a London bookseller, with his ex-libris bookplate under the fep), and volumes 3-6 are signed by Hart-Davis as follows: 'For Henry/with all blessings/from Rupert/March 1981'; ' For Henry/from Rupert/March 1982'; 'For Henry/with all blessings/from Rupert/April 1983'; and ' For Harry, to complete his set/ with all blessings/ from Rupert/ April 1984 '. I'm not sure who Harry was...The dustwrapper on each book is in fine or very near fine condition, one or two small repairs to a couple of volumes, no price-clips, small chip to the top front spine fold on vol 5. Overall an extremely nice-looking set. Rupert Hart-Davis was a gentleman publisher just after the Second World War, and George Lyttelton was the 'beak' he had met at Eton as a pupil there. In the mid-1950s Lyttelton complained to Hart-Davis that with all his friends and correspondents dying he was lonely and out of touch. From genuine kindness, Hart-Davis undertook to write to him weekly, and the resulting correspondence between the two led to the publication of the first volume of these Letters in 1978. Its success then resulted in five more volumes over the next six years. Together they amount to some of the most urbane, witty and civilised letters in the entire canon of English literature, a sheer delight to read.