The Remorseful Day
London: Macmillan, 1999. First Edition. 8vo, 9 1/8 x 6 inches (232 x 152 mm); (10), 374 pp. Original full black cloth binding with gilt title on spine; black book marker ribbon; original dust wrapper, unclipped and protected in archival mylar sleeve. Internally pages are bright and clean and firmly bound.
FIRST EDITION – INSCRIBED "For Edgar | With every best wish as ever" and SIGNED by the author.
The last of the Inspector Morse novels, from the series of 13, all set in Oxford, which began with Last Bus to Woodstock (1975). It was adapted as the final episode in the Inspector Morse television series. Morse tries to solve the unsolved murder of Yvonne Harrison, as his health deteriorates. The title derives from a line in the poem "XVI – (How clear, how lovely bright)", by A. E. Housman, a favorite poet of Dexter and Morse:
Ensanguining the skies
How heavily it dies
Into the west away;
Past touch and sight and sound
Not further to be found,
How hopeless under ground
Falls the remorseful day.
COLIN DEXTER (1930–2017) was a renowned English crime novelist best known for creating the erudite, music-loving Inspector Morse. The novels are noted for complex, crossword-style plots and were adapted into the hit TV series Inspector Morse (1987–2000), starring John Thaw, which spawned the spin-offs Inspector Lewis and Endeavour. Dexter’s novels are recognized for their intellectual, witty, and deeply atmospheric depiction of Oxford, ensuring his legacy alongside classic mystery authors. His excellence was recognized with several Crime Writer's Association awards: Two Silver Daggers, Two Gold Daggers and A Cartier Diamond Dagger. He also received an OBE for his services to literature in 2000. He lived in Oxford, was an avid crossword setter for The Oxford Times, and died in 2017.
The author inscribed the book to his very good friend EDGAR GEOFFREY RAYNER (born 1927) who is an historian and prolific author of popular history books (many with co-author Ron Stapley, including Who Was Mr Nobody: Debunking Historical Mysteries, 2007; Debunking History, 2009; Debunking Women's History, 2010. Dexter and Rayner met while teaching at Wyggeston Grammar School —Colin Dexter's first teaching post after graduating from Christ's College, Cambridge. Although Dexter had moved on to Corby Grammar School by 1959, the two collaborated on two books on liberal studies, aimed at students in 6th form or first years of further education, in an attempt to stimulate discussion. The books were published in 1964 and 1965.
Condition: Fine / Fine.
Item number: 2299
Price: $800.00
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