first edition, “discursions”, osbert sitwell, pub. grant richards 1925

FIRST EDITION, “DISCURSIONS”, OSBERT SITWELL, PUB. GRANT RICHARDS 1925

About this piece

Osbert Sitwell’s debut essay collection, Discursions, published by Grant Richards in 1925. This is a first edition of the Bloomsbury-adjacent wit’s spirited meditations on art, architecture, travel and society—including his celebrated essay on the Roman ruins at Padula, reproduced here with period black-and-white plates. The binding is a striking bright red cloth with embossed title lettering to the spine and cover.

The book shows honest wear consistent with a century of gentle use: the cloth is sound and the pages remain crisp and clean, though the spine and edges have naturally softened with age. A handsome example of early twentieth-century publishing design, and a key title in Sitwell’s literary career, now increasingly collected by readers of interwar modernism and design history.