Presentation copy with an original photograph and a drawing. presentation copy inscribed: 'D [drawing of an ear] Patrick: Merry Christmas & Happy new year / (at which pt. you'll be getting 2 more of these overdue offerings) / [drawing of gift box and a crocodile] / warm regards / Peter (Beard)'. Below this is a gelatin silver photograph of Beard with Karen Blixen mounted inside a' Seasons Greetings' book of matches.

Peter Beard first visited Africa at seventeen and, when returning a few years later he read Out of Africa (1937), the book Karen Blixen wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinensen, on the boat over. Captivated by the book, he travelled to Copenhagen to visit Blixen in 1961 and again in 1962. During this second visit, Blixen gave Beard a letter of introduction to her former majordomo, Kamante Gatura, a Kenyan national of the Kikuyu tribespeople. Beard suggested that Kamante write a book about his life with Njeri wa Kahuga (the Kikuyu name given to Karen Blixen). Longing for Darkness, which takes its title from Blixen's Shadows on the Grass (1960), features Kamante Gatura's recollections of his time with Blixen and folk tales of his people; these were spoken into a tape recorder and were translated and transcribed by his sons, the book also includes his drawings, Karen Blixen's archival photographs and Peter Beard's photographs.

First edition, presentation copy with a drawing and a gelatin silver photograph mounted within a book of matches on the front free endpaper; 4to (303 x 202 mm, 12 x 8 in); black-and-white photographs by Peter Beard and Karen Blixen, facsimile pages from Kamante Gatura's recollections with photographs and colour drawings, layout and design by Peter Beard and Marvin Israel, afterword by Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis, toning to pages; tan endpapers, photo-illustrated paper-covered boards, dark grey, light rubbing to spine-ends and tips, illustrated price-clipped dust-jacket, light fading to spine, wear along top edge with a small chip to lower panel, a very good copy; [364]pp.