Condition Continued: There is a light amber stain on both sides of part of the juncture between the second blank front end papers and, in the same place, on the two following pages including the title page. It does not touch any of the print or illustrations, and it is gone after that. In fact, I didn't see any other soiling over the rest the pages. The rear inside cover has a few very small and light spots. I saw a few of those very thin lightning-strike little creases off the top edges. I didn't see any corner creases, no placeholder creases. There are no markings in the book. There is one tiny, very neat, bookshop label just off the bottom edge of the illustrated front end paper. The only writing to be found in the book is the aforementioned penned (and dated) signature of Colonel Bunker. The book has a half-dozen or so illustrations by Rex Whistler. All of them are in excellent condition.

You can see the dust jacket in the first few photos. I have always had it in a fitted protective cover. It's in pretty nice shape. There are a few small edge tears off the front top edge, one off the rear bottom edge. There is a tiny, tiny loss off the top edge at the juncture between the spine and rear cover. There's also a small scuff on the front cover touching the bottom of the letter 'H'. The design on the top half of the rear cover appears to be quite faded.

The jacket is clean. I don't see any conspicuous stains. The flaps are also quite clean, but there are clips at all four corners, removing the price from the front top one. 

Doubleday Doran and Co., Garden City, New York, 1933. Stated First Edition. The American First Edition. The English First Edition was published in the same year. A first edition with its dust jacket is very rare. In fact I didn't see any for sale of the American first edition. One of the English firsts with its dust jacket was selling for $150.00 and a couple of others that were also signed were selling for around a hundred dollars more than that. On top of being singularly rare my book has some interesting provenance. It bears the signature (on the illustrated front end paper) of Laurence Eliot Bunker. Colonel Bunker (Army) served as aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur from 1946 to 1952. He served through most of the Occupation of Japan and the Korean War. He received the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit. Perhaps he knew the author. Beside graduating from Harvard, he obtained degrees at Cambridge in England.

From the dust jacket: '  'Down The Garden Path' was all about a garden. A Thatched Roof is all about the cottage which stands in that garden. It is not a sequel, but 'the other half of the same love.' Mr. Nichols manages to impart to you the honest joy that he took in making and living in this cottage, room by room and season by season. It is a delightful companion book to Down The Garden Path and a joy to anyone who has ever tried to make a home.'

And from a critic: '' Nichols's humorous ruminations on life in the countryside, as always, are refreshing. The typical Nichols gardening anecdotes and familiar characters are there, as well as the author's beloved dog, Whoops, an inveterate spy with a habit of leaping to conclusions.'