The Hat Shop

Undated but circa 1915 (definitely not the first edition of 1914).  314, [4 of publisher's adverts] pp.  Tan cloth-covered boards with black lettering and decorations.  12mo.  Cloth is worn all over, marked and scuffed along fore-edges, rubbed and rounded at corners and ends of a lightly sunned spine.  Text block edges tanned.  Lacks both free endpapers. Internally pages are toned and brittle, with some staining  and spotting.  Both hinges cracked, loosening boards. A very uncommon novel from the notable and under-rated Mrs C S Peel, the married name of Constance Dorothy Evelyn Baliff (1868-1934).  Peel began her career as a journalist, having won a competition to write for a magazine edited by Arnold Bennett.  Bennett arranged for her to be tutored and mentored her himself.  In 1894, Baliff opened a hat shop with a friend.  A successful venture, which included among its clients the famous actress Ellen Terry, but Baliff withdrew from the business in 1913, perhaps because of ill-health but also perhaps because of her disillusionment with the fashion industry, and returned to writing.  The Hat Shop, drawing upon her experiences in business, was the first of her four novels.  But she was also a successful (and very industrious) author of household management works, several of which are advertised at the end of this volume.  Library Hub records only five copies of the novel in intuitional holdings. Sadly this copy in poor condition hence pricing.  We would not usually offer a book in this condition but it is a hard to find title and this copy, perfectly readable, may serve to fill a gap in a collection until a better copy can be sourced and afforded.