First edition, first impression, presentation copy of Coward's comic novel inscribed to the the actress Joyce Carey, "For Miss Joyce Carey with the cordial sentiments of The Author. Bessie - Bessie - Bessie". The meaning of this latter part may have something to do with the advent of Queen Elizabeth II into the novel's plot. Joyce Carey, OBE (1898-1993) is best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noel Coward. In the midst of her stage career, which lasted 1916 to 1987, she rejoined Coward in 1942 to tour in his three newest plays, This Happy Breed, as Sylvia, Blithe Spirit, as Ruth, and Present Laughter, as Liz (a character based partly on Carey herself). After the war she played in Coward's new plays Quadrille and Nude with Violin (alongside Gielgud in London and Coward himself in New York). Her New York Times obituary noted that she "excelled in Coward plays" and that "her constructive comments helped shape" them.
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