Oscar Winner's Inscription to Her Publisher
Me: Stories from My Life
Publication: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. First Edition.
Notes: A nice first edition of the memoirs of one of the most iconic of movie stars, inscribed to the owner of the publisher of The Making of the African Queen.
Katharine Hepburn, winner of four Oscars for her film work and one of the great stars of Hollywood, wrote her first book, The Making of the African Queen, for Knopf in 1987. For that book she worked with the legendary editor Robert Gottlieb. At the time, Knopf and its parent company, Random House, were owned by the New York publishing magnate Si (Seymour) Newhouse, who also owned The New Yorker magazine. Newhouse asked Gottlieb to take over at The New Yorker about the time Hepburn's first book was finished, so Gottlieb didn't work on her sequel, Me.
This copy, however, came from Gottlieb's estate—presumably Si Newhouse gave it to Gottlieb. The inscription reads, "For Si / Thank you! Thank you! Kate Hep."
Edition + Condition: First edition (stated). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket, inscribed by the author. There are lots of "signed" copies of this book for sale on the Internet, many of them with barely credible attempts to mimic the tremor in Hepburn's hand, but legitimately signed copies, to known recipients and with good provenance, are not common.
Provenance: From the estate of Robert Gottlieb; proof of provenance will be provided with the book.
Item No: #364157
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