Rebecca. First Edition, First Impression, 1938. In a Painted Manderley-Inspired Morocco Design Binding.

du Maurier, Daphne

Edité par Victor Gollancz Limited, London, 1938

A propos de cet article

DU MAURIER, Daphne. Rebecca. London: Victor Gollancz Limited, 1938.

First edition, first impression.

Octavo. Finely rebound in a remarkable full black morocco design binding, with a continuous painted pictorial composition extending across both boards. Against a dark ground, bands of deep blue, crimson, orange and gold sweep across the covers like reflected fire and night sky, while a stark, leafless black tree rises from the lower front board. The design powerfully evokes the haunted landscape of Manderley, the encroaching drive and the fatal glow that closes du Maurier's novel. The binding is framed in gilt, with a black morocco spine divided by raised bands and decorated with red and gilt floral devices; the title, author and date are lettered in gilt. Blue marbled endpapers complete the presentation.

A striking first impression of Daphne du Maurier's most celebrated novel, published by Victor Gollancz in 1938. Opening with the unforgettable dream of returning to Manderley, Rebecca follows its unnamed narrator from Monte Carlo into marriage with Maxim de Winter and into the shadow of his first wife, whose presence continues to govern the house, its servants and its secrets.

Du Maurier's fusion of psychological suspense, Gothic atmosphere and romantic obsession made Rebecca an immediate success and established it as one of the defining novels of twentieth-century British literature. Alfred Hitchcock's celebrated 1940 adaptation, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and further secured the novel's enduring cultural presence.

The binding is exceptionally responsive to the text. The deep black morocco ground suggests secrecy, memory and the brooding shadow of Manderley, while the bands of painted colour gather across the boards in tones of blue, red, orange and gold, evoking evening light giving way to flame. The solitary black tree on the front board recalls the overgrown approach to the estate in the novel's opening pages and the natural world reclaiming the abandoned house. The richly decorated spine and blue marbled endpapers complete a binding conceived around the atmosphere, landscape and destruction of Manderley.

Internally, the original 1938 text block is preserved, with age toning and occasional spotting visible in places, consistent with the paper stock of the edition. The morocco design binding presents extremely well, with vivid painted colour, bright gilt and attractive marbled endpapers. No dust jacket, the volume having been finely rebound.

An arresting collector's copy of the first edition, first impression of Rebecca, combining du Maurier's Gothic masterpiece with a highly accomplished painted morocco binding inspired by the dark beauty and final destruction of Manderley.

N° de réf. du vendeur ABE-1742886341350

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Rebecca. First Edition, First Impression, 1938. In a Painted Manderley-Inspired Morocco Design Binding.
• Éditeur: Victor Gollancz Limited, London
• Date de parution: 1938
• Langue: anglais
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• Impression: 1er tirage
• État de l'article: Fine