Rebecca
London: Gollancz, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition, signed in ink on the title page by Du Maurier. Black cloth stamped in gilt, corners lightly bumped, some minor rubbing to the front panel, foxed and toned text block and endpapers (normal with this book), small morocco bookplate to the front pastedown and a very small booksellers ticket on the rear pastedown, else an internally clean and near fine copy. In the increasingly scarce dust jacket with the original, always scarce, Book Society bellyband. Spine of jacket is faded a half shade, extremities with minimal toning and wear, light crease to the back panel, else near fine and unrestored. Bellyband torn along the spine area and some wear, else without loss and similarly bright. Old full cloth box. Near fine / near fine. Item #743
A classic masterpiece that subtly subverts the Cinderella, rags to riches theme providing an eerie Gothic narrative. The atmospheric dream described in the opening scene gives a sonorous clue to the grim reality found in the last chapter. The primary characters include the nameless heroine, her introverted husband Maxim de Winter who suffers from an old case of estrogen poisoning, their housekeeper the obsessive Mrs. Danvers, the house, Manderley, a gothic incarnation of grandeur in the modern style and the former wife of de Winter, the now deceased Rebecca who haunts them all and gives her name to the title. There are dozens of great thrillers in 20th century western literature but at the pinnacle of fame there is only one Rebecca and this is the optimum copy of it. "He did not look at me, he went on reading his paper, contented, comfortable, having assumed his way of living, the master of the house. And as I sat there, brooding, my chin in my hands, fondling the soft ears of one of the spaniels, it came to me that I was not the first one to lounge there in possession of the chair; someone had been before me, had surely left an imprint of her person on the cushions, and on the arm where her hand had rested. Another one had poured the coffee from that same silver coffee pot, had placed the cup to her lips, had bent down to the dog, even as I was doing."
Price:
$34,000.00