O'TOOLE, Patricia | The Five of Hearts

An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends 1880–1918. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1990. 

8vo.; brown endpapers; quarterbound gray cloth over mustard boards stamped in gilt. In original illustrated dust jacket. 

First edition. Inscribed by Patricia O’Toole to Diana Trilling on the half-title: “To Diana Trilling / who deserves a biography of her own. / With fond regards and every good with (and a little trepidation), / Patricia O’Toole / December 14, 1991”. 

A group biography and 1991 Pulitzer Prize finalist tracing the intellectual and emotional lives of Henry Adams, his wife Clover, John and Clara Hay, and Clarence King—friends who styled themselves “The Five of Hearts.” O’Toole weaves their story through correspondence and contemporaneous accounts, presenting an intimate portrait of Gilded Age social and political life, and illuminating their relationships with figures such as Henry James, John La Farge, Stanford White, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Patricia O’Toole, then early in her literary career, was one of Diana Trilling’s “helpers” in the later years of Trilling’s life. Among other tasks, she read aloud to the critic, offering companionship and intellectual engagement as Trilling’s eyesight declined. This presentation copy—both affectionate and deferential—attests to the younger writer’s admiration for Trilling and the inspiration she provided.

Held with autograph greeting card signed from Patricia O’Toole to Diana Trilling. December 14, 1991. 8vo.; one bifoliate leaf; rectos and versos.