The Chocolate Sword

Cornwall, UK: United Writers, 1996. First edition. 102pp. Green textured paper boards, gilt spine titles. Fine in a fine jacket.

A collection of light rhyming verse representing the “multifaceted nature of English life in the mid-1990s.” This copy inscribed at length by Groves at ffep to The Very Reverend Eric Evans: “with the author’s warmest thanks for his consent to the dedication on page 97. Also to congratulate him on the distinction conferred upon him in Her Majesty The Queen's Birthday Honours, and to wish him all happiness in his forthcoming retirement.” Evans was Dean of St. Paul’s cathedral in London from 1988 until his death in 1996, just two months after this book’s inscription. An intriguing Church of England association.