Books

"Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier Victor Gollancz, London. 1938 first UK edition first printing. Signed presentation inscription from the author to her governess "Tod, with love from Daphne. July 1938" to front free endpaper, light marginal toning and some foxing, upper hinge tinder, original cloth, slight shelf-lean, light fading to spine, spine with short split to head and fraying to foot, joints rubbed, dust-jacket, light fading to spine, spine ends and corners a little chipped, neatly repaired tear to head of upper panel, light creasing to head, extremities rubbed. A superb association copy inscribed from the author to her favourite governess in the month prior to publication. Signed copies of Rebecca are rare, we can only trace a handful at auction, we can find no like association copy. Maud Waddell worked as one of several governesses for the Du Maurier children and she is now regarded as having had an important formative influence on Daphne in particular. Waddell (or, "Tod" as she was nicknamed by the children after the Beatrix Potter character) was a strong, independently-minded woman who instilled in Du Maurier a passion for reading and encouraged her early writing. Writing in her memoirs, Du Maurier recounts some early influences from Waddell's recommendations: "Wilde filled my reading hours, but a more lasting impression was made by the stories of Katherine Mansfield, introduced to me by Tod who had a brother in New Zealand, and I felt instinctively that if I could only one day in the distant future write some sketch that might compare, however humbly, to hers, I need not despair." Waddell later became a close friend and confidant, and would even serve as governess for Du Maurier's own children many years later. - Du Maurier, Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer, 1977. This is the must-have book for serious collectors.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. The novel 'Rebecca', by Daphne du Maurier, begins with this evocative sentence, setting the tone for a story of romance, jealousy, and intrigue. The unnamed protagonist, a young and naive woman, marries the charismatic Maxim de Winter after a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo. Upon moving to his ancestral estate, Manderley, she confronts the pervasive influence of his late wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on long after her death.