Hardback, blue cloth with titles on paper spine label. Published by Chatto and Windus. First edition, 1924. Walter James Redfern Turner (1889-1946) was an Australian-born poet and author who moved to England at the age of 18. He was a friend of Siegfried Sassoon, Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, and Lady Ottoline Morrell, among others. He was first known for his poetry, but went on to write novels, plays, and several well-regarded biographies of composers. ‘Smaragda’s Lover’ is a satirical play about the Sitwells, who had also been among his friends until Osbert Sitwell satirized Turner in ‘The Jolly Old Squire’. ‘Smaragda’s Lover’, Turner’s retaliation, has apparently been described by the London Magazine as “the earliest and funniest of the Sitwell send-ups.” Hardback, no dust jacket. Spine is discoloured with some fraying top and bottom. Covers are a little bumped and marked but in very good condition for a book of this age. Internally there is a bookplate (Irene Clephane) on the front pastedown and some yellowing of pages. A hardback binding of this book appears to be rare, and it is possible that it was specially bound. The covers and endpapers appear to be of the era. The binder has left a spare title label tucked in at the rear endpaper.