Bethel Merriday, A Novel of the Young Girl on the Stage

$50 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: Lewis, Sinclair [Harry] (1885-1951) Year: 1940 Publisher: Doubleday, Doran Co Place: New York Description: [i-vi]+vii-viii+[ix-x]+390 pages. Octavo (8 7/16" x 5 3/4") issued in red cloth with initials "SL" impressed on cover decorated with impressed laurel branch superimposed over cover initials; gilt title in black rectangle on spine; author's name in black on gilt rectangle on spine. Dust jacket in blue with red and white banner on cover lettered in verso, gilt and white on spine. 33,250 printed of the first edition in dust jacket. (Pastore:259) First edition. IIn the Summer of 1939, Lewis and Fay Wray collaborated loosely on a play titled (and unpublished) Angela is Twenty-Two . Lewis did the writing with the intention of playing the male lead; Fay Wray helped with the staging and visual dramatics. Lewis became more involved with drama and acting, even so far as joining Actors Equity, sponsored by Helen Hayes. When the play opened on December 30, 1939, it was well-received leading Lewis to take it on the road where he not only acted but directed as well. This tour became the narrative framework of Bethel Merriday, right down to the young heroine having an affair with the much older director. When the book landed in bookstores, Lewis was in Hollywood negotiating for screen rights to the movie version of the book. while he received $50,000 for these rights, the film was never produced. Total sales for the novel were the lowest of any of his books since Free Air , 48,

• Printing: first
• Binding: Hardcover

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