THIS novel has had an interesting history. Originally published in 1930, it had an unusual success for a first novel: it went through six large printings in its first year, and there was a continued demand for it over a long period. Very few novels, once the demand has ceased, are ever republished. Interest in Griswold's writing, however, justified a republication of The Tides of Malvern in 1940.

Edwin Bjorkman, author and critic, who discovered Francis Griswold's first novel, The Tides of Malvern, called it, in a letter to a friend: "One of the biggest and finest things that has come out of the new South.... It is, you might say, the story of Charleston, of Malvern Barony outside, of that city, of the Sheldon family that built and maintained the old house generation after generation. It is a cross-section of the life of that part of the South from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day, but it is history told in terms of individual experience. . . I believe firmly that both the book and the author will create a stir. . ."

And when Burton Rascoe read The Tides of Malvern he said: "Make a note of Griswold's name, because it is a name that will be blazoned on the literary scene in a few years." Mr. Rascoe was a good prophet: in 1939 came Griswold's A Sea Island Lady, which immediately became one of the year's best-sellers. Its great popularity intensified the demand for republication of The Tides of Malvern.

This special edition of THE TIDES OF MALVERN has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original publisher, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York.

Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council on Books in Wartime.