All This, and Heaven Too

New York: The Macmillan Company. Near Fine in Very Good dj. 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. [a good sound copy with only light wear to the base of the spine, slight browning/discoloration in the gutters; the jacket has a small chip at the lower front hinge, tiny bits of paper loss at other bottom corners, and the spine panel is heavily sun-browned]. The author's third novel for adult readership; she had previously written primarily children's books, including the Newbery Medal-winning "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years." Set in pre-Revolutionary France, it was a fictionalization based on the life of her great-aunt (or at least that's what she claimed), Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, "a woman of rare gifts, fortitude and magnetism," who had become unwittingly involved in a famous murder case while working as a governess in the household of the Duc and Duchesse de Praslin. (It was the Duchess, Françoise aka Fanny, who was bumped off -- quite likely by her husband, who then committed suicide while awaiting trial.) Henriette had been discharged by the Duchess in reaction to rumors (apparently false) that she was having an affair with the Duc. Eventually she was cleared of any wrongdoing, and emigrated to the United States to begin a new life. The story was a natural for a "woman's picture," and Hollywood acquired the film rights to the book, the initial asking price for which was reportedly $100,000 -- twice what had been paid for "Gone with the Wind" (also published by Macmillan!) just a couple of years earlier. The resulting film, released by Warner Bros. in 1940, starred Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. The book was reprinted numerous times (including a movie tie-in edition), but the first printing is notably scarce. .