HARNETT, Cynthia (author and illustrator). Stars of Fortune. London Methuen & Co. Ltd.

8vo.; original light blue linson boards lettered gilt to spine, in pictorial dustwrapper; pp. [viii] + 223, including family tree; with illustrations throughout in line; an excellent copy with light discolouration to covers, with a pictorial bookplate to front endpaper and the same owner’s name to front free endpaper; internally fine save a few spots to fore-edge of book block, in a fine and exceptionally fresh, unclipped dustwrapper (15s).

First edition.  The stars of fortune derive from the coat of arms of the Washington family, which evolved into the stars and stripes of the American flag. This is the story of an Englishman, an ancestor of George Washington, living at the time of Mary Tudor at Sulgrave Manor in Northamptonshire, with Princess Elizabeth existing as a virtual prisoner in nearby Woodstock.  Harnett won the Carnegie Medal in 1951 for her novel Woolpack.