COWARD, Noël; LAMB, Max — Present Indicative

New York: Doubleday Doran and Company, Inc. 1937. First American Edition of Noël Coward's Autobiography Inscribed by Him on the Front Free Endpaper COWARD, Noël. Present Indicative. New York: Doubleday Doran and Company, Inc. [1937]. First American edition. Octavo (7 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches; 200 x 140 mm.). viii, [1]-371, [1, blank] pp. Illustrated throughout with thirty-one photogravure plates. Publishers blue boards, spine decoratively lettered in gilt. A very good copy in the original printed dust jacket, spine creased and a little worn at extremities. Inscribed on front free endpaper "For Max Lamb with my best wishes Noël Coward" Present Indicative is a 1937 autobiography by Noël Coward. The book was highly acclaimed and became a best seller. It was followed by Future Indefinite. A third volume, Past Conditional, was never completed. "I was photographed naked on a cushion very early in life, an insane, toothless smile slitting my face and pleats of fat overlapping me like an ill-fitting overcoat. Later, at the age of two, I was photographed again. This time in a lace dress, leaning against a garden roller and laughing hysterically. If these photographs can be found they will adorn this book." (part one). Sir Noël Peirce Coward (1899-1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise.