Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
New York: Rinehart & Company, [1960]. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Black paper over boards with gilt and white spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 245pp. Near fine/very good. Jacket faintly edgeworn and a tad scuffed; text block mildly age toned as usual. Item #45802
Quite tight and attractive first edition of this cult classic, a suspense novel turned into the 1962 psychological thriller starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. This exceptionally sharp copy bears a choice and unusual autograph addition: Tipped to the blank leaf facing the title page is a signed photograph (newsprint) of Bette Davis -- a unique frontispiece (tissue guarded). 4 3/4" X 7", n.p., n.y. Near fine. Black and white scene on newsprint stock showing Davis berating her wheelchair-bound sister, boldly inscribed and signed by her in black fineline at lower right: "For Billy / from / Bette Davis." Undated, but certainly signed in later life, circa 1980. A sharp copy of a scarce title, more so with this appropriate extra-illustration. Davis (1908-89) was a versatile Oscar-winning actress whom one generation loved for her striking looks and "Bette Davis eyes" (in "Jezebel," "Dangerous," etc.) and later generations loved to hate for her portrayals of aging, wacked-out psychos ("Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," etc.).
Price: $750.00