[Manuscript:] 'The light o' loves in the Court of Heaven, from "A Judgement of Ladies"'.

Bookseller Notes

A small note-card accompanies the work, addressing 'My dear A.H.' (i.e., Ambrose Heal) - suggesting that this might constitute some 'light reading for Easter', and updating him on her career ('I'm busy working on a new play, but it's too early to know how it will turn out yet'), closing with 'Love from Dodie'. The heading on the card of 'The Barretts' in Finchingfield allows us to date the gift to after 1934, when Smith moved to the Essex home where she remained for the rest of her life; it post-dates, therefore, her employment at Heal's department store, where she worked as a toy buyer in its 'Little Gallery' section for close to a decade, ending in 1932 when her literary career (at first as a playwright) took off. For the latter half of her time there, she and Heal were romantically involved. If that relationship was formally over by the time of this work, it is nevertheless invoked in its narrative, where the titular band of 'merry ladies' disabuse St Peter of his notion that they needn't seek out their paramours in Heaven when such activities would lead to the other place - ending with the gatekeeper being overruled at the insistence of the 'goodly crowd of gentlemen', who are 'weary of hymns and praying [and] our saintly wives', and wish to continue their earthly delights. The one lady who stands out as 'not richly clad [...] but in rags and with bare feet', who upon readmission 'sought but one love', is perhaps intended to represent the author.In its nature playful, the little book shows a talent for presentation through its attractive design that in this instance probably outweighs its literary value - as Smith herself acknowledges, calling the work 'no masterpiece' in her message to Heal, 'but I quite enjoyed it'. A charming jeu d'esprit.