The Member of the Wedding.

MCCULLERS, Carson.

$3,000.00

Item Number: 134589

New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1946.

First edition of McCullers’ classic coming-of-age story like no other about a young girl’s fascination with her brother’s wedding, which has been compared to The Catcher in the Rye and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Harrell with love Carson.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. An exceptional example, first editions are uncommon signed and inscribed.

Twelve-year-old Frankie is utterly, hopelessly bored with life until she hears about her older brother’s wedding. Bolstered by lively conversations with her family maid, Berenice, and her six-year-old cousin—not to mention her own unbridled imagination—Frankie takes on an overly active role in the wedding, hoping even to go, uninvited, on the honeymoon, so deep is her desire to be a member of something larger, more accepting than herself. It is the basis for the Broadway production directed by Harold Clurman. It opened on January 5, 1950 at the Empire Theatre, where it ran for 501 performances. The cast included Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, and debuted Brandon deWilde, a seven-year-old second-grader at the time. Waters, Harris, and deWilde reprised their stage roles, with Arthur Franz, Nancy Gates, and Dickie Moore joining the cast, for the 1952 film version. The screenplay was adapted by Edna and Edward Anhalt and directed by Fred Zinnemann. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Julie Harris.