Half-title from a signed and inscribed copy of Philip Pullman’s nowadays scarce first novel, The Haunted Storm of 1971 - £2400 at Forum Auctions.
As well as the presentation inscription on the half-title, where Pullman has crossed out the printed title and substituted the one he had wanted, ‘The Two Brothers’, it also contains two letters to the recipient.
One was written in 1973, when Pullman had just embarked on a new career as teacher: “At the moment I am trying to teach 15 year old thugs about the beauty of words & the delights and value of English Literature. They raise their fingers at me; I do not blame them. My soul is acquiring the texture of chip-board.”
