DU MAURIER, Daphne. Rebecca.
London: Victor Gollancz Limited, 1938. First edition, first impression.
Daphne du Maurier’s most celebrated novel, opening with the unforgettable return in dreams to Manderley and developing into one of the defining psychological novels of the twentieth century.
Du Maurier conceived Rebecca as a study of jealousy, drawing partly upon her own feelings towards Jan Ricardo, the former fiancée of her husband Tommy Browning. Victor Gollancz instead marketed the novel as a love story, and its success was immediate: the initial printing of 20,000 copies sold rapidly and the book has remained continuously in print.
The unnamed second Mrs de Winter arrives at Manderley following her marriage to Maxim de Winter, only to find the house dominated by the memory of Rebecca, his dead first wife, and by the formidable Mrs Danvers. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 adaptation, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Finely bound in full navy-blue morocco, the boards framed with double gilt rules and corner ornaments; spine with raised bands, gilt lettering and richly gilt compartments, with the date 1938 at foot. Marbled endpapers complete the binding.
