My Secret History: A Novel.

First edition of Theroux's most ambitious novel. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Sally who, I am sure, has captured the essence of this on 23 Mon 1989 with best wishes Paul Theroux." The recipient, British photojournalist Sally Soames, worked for The Sunday Times from 1968 until 2000 and was highly regarded for her exclusively black and white portraits of many of the most prominent figures of the 20th century including Menachem Begin, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Connery, Rudolf Nureyev, Alec Guinness and Andy Warhol. Soames, who was known to be a warm and personal journalist, performed extensive research on her subjects and developed intimate rapports with them during her process, resulting in striking and revealing portraits. In addition to the several world leaders Soames came to know and photograph, she captured the unique personalities of some of the world’s most gifted authors, poets, and playwrights. She published two books of photographs during her lifetime: Manpower (1987) with text by Robin Morgan and an introduction by Harold Evans and Writers (1995) with a preface by Norman Mailer. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with a closed tear to the crown of the spine. Jacket design by Mon Mohan. Author photo by Jerry Bauer.