A Flame for the Fire [author's proof set, three dust jacket proofs and letter]

[ff] 6 ff 326. Full length author's proof set of Tranter's novel 'A Flame for the Fire', the 16th century story of David, Master of Kennedy, loyal supporter of James IV of Scotland. Minor authorial corrections throughout, and checked by Kate Lyall Grant of publishers Hodder and Stoughton. Accompanied by three different printed proofs of the dust jacket for the first edition, and a letter from Hodder to the author revealing a disagreement over the jacket design; "I'm afraid our sales and marketing people gave the thumbs down to the previous jacket, as they felt it looked too Italian". The publishers wanted a flame haired heroine but the first edition eventually featured a crumbling castle in an autumnal Scottish glen. Nigel Tranter's normal method of composition was described in his Guardian obituary thus: 'Each morning he would leave his house in East Lothian and begin a long walk... In stout boots, flat cap and sensible tweeds, he looked just like any other bird-watcher but for one oddity: in his hands he carried small sheets of paper, protected by a polythene bag in inclement weather. By the time he returned home some 12 miles later, he would have completed another 1,000 words of his next book. Then, with few corrections, the work would be typed up on a venerable Imperial typewriter.'