ORWELL (GEORGE) Coming Up for Air, FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY TO MAX PLOWMAN, inscribed on front free endpaper "Max Plowman fr[om] Eric Blair", half-title, publisher's blue cloth (faded), dust-jacket priced "7/6 net" on spine (toned, head of spine frayed with one joint splitting) [Fenwick a7a], 8vo, Victor Gollancz, 1939 FINE PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED TO ORWELL'S FRIEND, THE EDITOR MAX PLOWMAN, "who had encouraged Orwell in his early writing and was one of the first to publish him. He and his wife [Dorothy] had been friends of Orwell since 1930" (The Complete Works of George Orwell: A Patriot after All (1940-1941), edited by Peter Davison, 1998, p.515). Plowman (1883-1941), a noted pacifist, held an important role in literary circles during the inter-war years, notably as the co-editor, then editor of The Adelphi from 1930 to 1941. During this period he commissioned many articles, and book reviews from Orwell. He was also instrumental in helping organise for Orwell to recuperate from illness in Marrakesh from September 1938, until late-March 1939, during which time he wrote Coming Up for Air. When published in June that year, receiving good reviews, Plowman wrote to Orwell "My Golly! What a book! I could write another about it ... It's done to the life and your little man lives all right & so gets his immortality" (quoted by Gordon Bowker, 'Road to Morocco', Orwell Foundation online, June 2026). Provenance: Max Plowman, inscription from the author; Alan Pryce-Jones (1908–2000); by descent to the present owner.