I didn’t get far with this- I was put off by the one-dimensional characters, many of them unsavoury.

This is a handsome old hardcover edition, published in 1945. It contains a notation which says,
'A Wartime Book - This complete edition is produced in full compliance with the government's regulations for conserving paper and other essential materials.'
In the current age of all things disposable, it's hard to imagine that there was a time when printing lovely hardcover books would be considered a resource-conservation issue!

To be released around 5 pm.