Greene, Graham

oblong 8vo (175 x 275mm.), illustrated by Dorothy Craigie, original yellow cloth decorated with three red fire buckets (not in Wobbe), top edge red, pictorial endpapers, DUST-JACKET, some minor soiling near to spine, spine slightly skewed,  some small chips and minor tears to edges of dust-jacket

see Wobbe A24

Between the publication of The Little Train and its sequel. Graham Greene had begun a passionate affair with Catherine Walston, and, perhaps more crucially, he had also resigned as director of fiction for Eyre and Spottiswoode after repeatedly falling out with his fellow director Douglas Jerrold. Although Eyre and Spottiswoode had already committed to publishing The Little Fire Engine, and had commissioned Jarrold & Sons of Norwich to prepare for production, it was Max Parrish who eventually published the book. For this little known publisher, the addition of Graham Greene to his list was a great triumph, particularly since Greene was now happy to announce his authorship not just of this title but of The Little Train as well.