Geoffrey Chaucer of England (The Dedication Copy)

London:: Robert Hale Limited, 1951. This is THE DEDICATION COPY of the author's first biography. Clean, square, and tight. Inner hinges are perfect. The binding is the original maroon cloth, lettered in gold over a black panel on the spine. Bibliographical references. Index. In addition to her considerable talents as a biographer and literary historian, the author was a gifted artist who attended the Minneapolis School of Art. She has handsomely illustrated this book with endpaper maps of London in Chaucer's time, and decorated initial letters at the start of each chapter. The book's printed dedication is to the author's mother, i.e. Edith Mary Pickburn Chute -- or "E.M.C." for short. The dedication page reads: "To E.M.C. who likes writers." Beneath that the author has drawn an arrow, a heart and penned: "another book, darling, [signed] Marrie." Born in Wayzata, Minnesota in 1909, Marchette "Marrie" Chute moved to New York City with her mother and two sisters in the early 1940s. Both sisters, B. J. [Beatrice Joy] Chute and Mary Grace Chute (later Mary Chute Smith, of Morristown, N.J.) were also gifted writers. Marchette Chute wrote some 13 books and served as president of the American Center of P.E.N. from 1955-57. She was elected to the American Academy of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1975. Among her other books are: SHAKESPEARE OF LONDON; BEN JONSON OF WESTMINSTER; JESUS OF ISRAEL; THE INNOCENT WAYFARING; THE TWO GENTLE MEN, THE LIVES OF GEORGE HERBERT AND ROBERT HERRICK. . INSCRIBED / SIGNED to the AUTHOR'S MOTHER.. First British Edition.. Hard Cover. Very Good condition./No Jacket.. 8vo. 312pp..