The Rothmans Book of Village Cricket

London: Bloomsbury. 1992.

Inscribed "For Harold with much love for Xmas from Antonia. see p121 for Horaby, Barlow etc. 1992". "Harold" is Pinter and "Antonia" is Fraser, his wife. 192x235mm. pp. 191 [1bl]. Green cloth and with original pictorial dustjacket. In fine condition throughout. A charming book summoning up the spirit of old rural England.
Harold Pinter was famously obsessed with cricket - he used to attend Lord's with Samuel Beckett (the only Nobel prize winner to appear in Wisden as a player). This modest but sweet Christmas present from Antonia was well chosen. Cricket was a constant running through her life. Her first husband Hugh Fraser was also keen and when Harold and Hugh met following Antonia's announcement of her affair with Pinter, she recalls how they formed a bond over cricket while she fell asleep. So, she was no devotee but knew enough to essay the occasional cricketing metaphor such as her celebrated put-down of poor Clive James who, thinking himself on the cusp of becoming the latest beneficiary of Antonia's liberally bestowed favours, was firmly told, "I only sleep with the First XI".