1st US ed. Alfred A Knopf, New York 1929. 8vo. Vol I viii, 1-282p, plus index (1p). Vol II (iv), 283-518p, plus index (2p) and typographical note (1p). A remarkable and unique piece. Green cloth spines. Rich purple cloth boards. Gilt lettering to both. Fore edge rough cut. Dedicated in print to Ida Constance Baker (known as 'L M'). General wear to both volumes. Fading/browning to spines (obscuring titling). Boards some bumping and marking. Some foxing, browning and marking to pages. Bindings loosening. Vol II hinges cracking. p415-416 removed. Partial excisions p515-517. These volumes were presumably used by John Middleton Murry (husband to Katherine Mansfield) when compiling 'Katherine Mansfield's Letters to John Middleton Murry' (1951). He has made annotations, additions and corrections by hand in ink/pen and in graphite/coloured pencil. Many notes are on paper from the 'Adelphi' (a magazine edited by Murry, 1923-27), tipped in. To the printed letters Murry adds and amends addresses and dates of origin. He inserts salutations and expands initials into names. He corrects spelling and punctuation, and restores details previously transcribed inaccurately (intentionally or otherwise). He attempts to decipher anew hard to read words and lines (he was adept at deciphering Mansfield's sometimes obscure script). He makes notes relating to manuscript letters, such as: 'This has become faded and indecipherable' and 'Where is the original?'. He adds long passages and several whole telegrams and postcards not published until the appearance of the 'Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield', edited by O'Sullivan and Scott (1984-2008). He also indicates (without including them) where additional letters should be inserted. He frequently refers to information previously omitted as 'important'. He notes possible references to short stories ('? The Garden Party') and copies a number of Mansfield's 'doodles'. Vol I bears more annotations than Vol II. A postal receipt is loosely included in Vol II. It is stamped 'Paris 30 | Bd Diderot | 14 30 | 18 - 10 | 22'. The recipient is given as S S Koteliansky. Looking over the two volumes, one gets an immediate sense of the infamous process of 'censorship', by which Mansfield's writings were softened by Murry. Expletives ('bloody'), criticisms (of Vanessa Bell, 'I confess as a painter I think shes awfully bad') and passions ('my precious own') were removed, concealed, diffused. These books are a wholly unique relic of the Mansfield/Murry partnership, surely one of the most important of the twentieth century. Ultimately, they are a testament to a great enduring love. In pencil to an especially personal letter: 'This lovely [underlined] letter tears me to pieces even now. 7.6.48'. G. [2].