"BRILLIANT… A WORK OF BEAUTY AND POWER": PRESENTATION LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, SIGNED BY DAVID GRUBB
GRUBB, Davis. The Night of the Hunter. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket.
Limited first edition of Davis Grubb's first novel, "presentation" edition of 1000 copies signed by him on publisher's tipped-in page, precedes the first trade edition, a compelling work that "still has the power to flood your 21st-century dreams with terror," basis for the landmark 1955 film noir, the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton, from a screenplay by James Agee and starring Robert Mitchum, in original dust jacket.
On publication in 1953, the New York Times called Night of the Hunter, based on a true story, "'brilliant… a work of beauty and power and astonishing verbal magic.' To the New York Herald-Tribune, Hunter was 'part idyll, part nightmare'… told 'with subtle lyricism and a compelling sense of evil'" (Jones, Heaven and Hell to Play With, 16). Writer Richard Price considers it "the gold standard of Southern Noir. Grubb's unforgettably charismatic and psychopathic villain, Harry Powell, still has the power to flood your 21st-century dreams with terror." The classic 1955 film noir adaptation, with a screenplay by James Agee, was the first and only film directed by actor Charles Laughton. Before filming they asked Grubb, trained as an artist, "to provide sketches of the characters and scenarios in his book as he saw them… Grubb produced well over 100 sketches, from which Agee and Laughton constructed their scenario, wrote the screenplay and cast the film" (Johnson, Dark Page II, 86). Hunter remains "a classic crime story related as a dark, almost fantastic parable of innocence imperiled. Robert Mitchum's memorable portrayal of Powell as a charismatic, psychotic drifter… is taken almost directly from Grubb's characterization" (Barron, Fantasy and Horror 6-153). Limited presentation first edition of 10000 unnumbered copies signed by David Grubb on publisher's tipped-in page. Copyright page with stated "First Edition"; code "I-C" indicating publication September 1953. Dust jacket front flap with price of $3.00, printer code of 9927; printer code of 9928 on rear flap, "Some Press Comments" on rear panel. Precedes first trade edition. Johnson, Dark Page II, 86.
Book fine; nearly invisible closed tear on lower front panel of bright about-fine dust jacket.