CHANDLER, Raymond (1888-1959) – APEL, Willi (1893-1988). Masters of the Keyboard. A Brief Survey of Pianoforte Music. Harvard University Press: 1947.

CHANDLER, Raymond (1888-1959) – APEL, Willi (1893-1988). Masters of the Keyboard. A Brief Survey of Pianoforte Music. Harvard University Press: 1947.

A rare artifact from Raymond Chandler's fabled romance with Cissy, warmly inscribed for her on Christmas day, 1947: "For my darling / Because God meant her to be (see title) one of them, but her heart was too big to let her live for herself / Raymio 12/25/47 La Jolla." Cissy Pascal was a former model and concert pianist and, nearly 20 years Chandler's senior, the mother of one of his close wartime friends. She divorced her husband and married Chandler in 1924, a marriage which lasted for thirty years, throughout the writing of all of Chandler's most famous novels. In 2011, Cissy Chandler's ashes were reinterred with Raymond's remains, honoring a wish he had expressed in his lifetime but for which he did not provide, probably due to the severity of his alcoholism and depression following Cissy's death. We trace no other inscribed books or letters from Chandler to his wife at auction. "Raymio" is known as Cissy's pet name for Chandler.

Large octavo (248 x 175mm). Original cloth, dust-jacket (spine panel ends chipped, folds and edges rubbed, price-clipped).

[With:] MAUGHAM, W.S. Typed Letter Signed ("W.S. Maugham") to Jean Fracasse, Cap Ferrat, 25 August 1959. 1 p, octavo (creased). Maugham expresses his satisfaction that Chandler knew before his death how much Maugham admired him.