The Unbearable Bassington

First published in 1912, this short novel follows Comus Bassington, a handsome, idle young man in Edwardian London, and his mother Francesca, who keeps a drawing-room of political and social talk. She presses him toward a wealthy marriage that would secure their position; he wastes the chance through selfishness and a taste for making others pay. Friends, a rival, and the girl in question move through parks, dinners, and country visits. When London closes, Comus is packed off to a colonial post in West Africa. The book is a society novel of failure, not a volume of Saki's short satires.

Bound in blue-green cloth with a design in dark blue by Lancaster. Pale blue-green endleaves. Blue slipcase.