The Graduate.

WEBB, Charles [Katharine Ross].

Item Number: 143114

New York: The New American Library, 1962.

Early printing of this classic “brilliant…sardonic, ludicrously funny” (The New York Times) story of an aimless college graduate in 1960s America that inspired the acclaimed film by Mike Nichols. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Charles Webb and inscribed by actress Katharine Ross on the half-title page. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Cover courtesy of Joseph E. Levine.

When Benjamin Braddock graduates from a small eastern college and comes home to his parents’ house, everyone wants to know what he’s going to do with his life. Benjamin has no idea. Feeling empty, embittered, and adrift, he falls haplessly into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the seductive wife of his father’s business partner. But then he falls in love with a woman closer to his own age: Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine. A scathingly entertaining tale of idealism and materialism, corruption and conformity, The Graduate captures with hilarity and insight the alienation of youth and the disillusionment of an era. It is the basis for the 1967 Mike Nichols film, starring Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross and Anne Bancroft.