First edition, first-issue binding. A significant presentation copy of the author's first published book, inscribed by him to "David Williams, sincere good wishes from Kingsley Amis, December 1947" on the front free endpaper, and again at a later date below, "Sounds a bit formal, would you say? Jolly good luck and raucous cheers (in slightly less tidy handwriting) from Kingsley, December 1978". David Williams was Amis's contemporary at St John's College, Oxford, and a member of his close-knit circle of college friends who informally called themselves "The Seven"; Philip Larkin was also a member, and in his biography of Larkin, Andrew Motion wrote that the group, however unserious, "anticipated the principles which were more coherently described by The Movement in the 1950s" (Motion, Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life, p. 69). Williams eventually graduated with a Third degree after his studies were interrupted by a period of service in the Royal Navy. He then became a successful advertising executive, but after suffering a stroke in 1976, turned to writing crime fiction and produced more than twenty "whodunnit" novels, most of which featured Oxford graduate and merchant banker Mark Treasure. He died 2003. Bright November is often encountered in rebound state.
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