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The Stepmother
Annie S[heperd] Swan
Annie S Swan (1859-1943) was a Scottish journalist, novelist and story writer who wrote under her maiden name but also as David Lyall: see The Consolation Bureau and The Lost House, also with dust jackets designed by Blampied. She made her literary debut for the magazine Woman at Home which she eventually edited from 1893 to 1917. She wrote over 250 romantic stories under her own name and over 80 titles under her pseudonym 'David Lyall'. As Mrs Burnett Smith, her married name, she supported the cause of temperance and during the First World War worked for the Ministry of Food. She was the only female founder of the Scottish Nationalist Party. A more detailed article about her can be found here.
I found the copy of the first edition in a bookshop in Amsterdam in 1999. I bought the jacket shown at the bottom from the late George Locke (1936-2019), the owner of Ferret Fantasy
, when he shared a bookshop in Cecil Court. George very kindly reviewed my biography of Blampied in The Bookdealer (November 2010, no 1822, pp 15-17). You can read the story of George as a collector and dealer and his thoughts on the book trade here. I think he would have been interested in these pages.
First edition, thus
Bibliography code: HOD-15.14i
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Series: none
Year: 1915
Format: 8vo
Pages: 336
Binding: Green cloth with title in white, author in black; three white lines dropping from end of S, M and R of STEPMOTHER to black figures below. Title, author and publisher in gold on spine (see below).
Size: 193 x 134 mm
Dust jacket: signed Blampied, lower left
Internal illustrations: frontispiece, signed Blampied, lower right
Price: 3 shillings 6 pence on a sticker on the spine, but the same price is advertised in The Bookman, Xmas issue, 1915
Printing history: An 8th edition dated 1937 is quite common and it was also issued as a 'Yellow jacket' paperback priced at 9 pence, but neither probably have the Blampied jacket design.
Printed by: Aberdeen University Press
Notes: The novel is advertised and illustrated in the Christmas issue of The Bookman in 1915 on page xii
Image of dust jacket (click to enlarge)
Image of cover (click to enlarge) Image of frontispiece (click to enlarge)
Edition not known
Bibliography code: HOD-15.14ii
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Series:
Year:
Format:
Pages:
Binding:
Size:
Dust jacket: not signed
Internal illustrations:
Price: 2 shillings 6 pence
Printing history:
Printed by:
Notes: Only known from the dust jacket
Image of dust jacket of a later edition (click to enlarge). The book has not been seen.