The Divine Lady by Barrington

Title:  The Divine Lady:  The Dramatic Romance of Lady Hamilton

Book Cond. - Very Good

Boards - Great color and print, slight shelf rubbing on bottom edge; corners are not bumped and have minimal wear.

Spine - Great color and print, the head and heel have some wear.

Binding - Tight backstrip, pages, paste downs are all very secure.  Hinges are tight.

Pages - Very clean, no writing, no names, no inscriptions.  Exception: pages 39-54 have a half inch ink spill mark on the edge and margin of the book.  This stain does not interfere with any print on any of the pages.  Very slight yellowing has started on the edges.

Dust Jacket Cond - Poor

There is a 1 ¼” by 1 ½” triangle piece missing from the bottom right hand corner, the spine is missing the top ¼”, and there are chips and rips on all of the edges.  All surfaces of the jacket are rubbed and soiled.  Please view picture.

This Book is not ex-library.

Physical and Other Attributes:    The book measures 8 1/9” x 5 ½” and has 417 pages.  The boards are covered with red cloth and have black printing on the front board and spine.  The title page is the decorative version, not the more common square lines and boxes.  However it is all black, unlike the two color version in the books printed by Dodd.  The front of dust jacket has an illustration by W.T. Bendg (I think, it is very hard to read).  The front flap has a message from the publisher, “This book is complete and unabridged!  From first page to last it is exactly as the author wrote it and as originally published at the higher price.  The low price is made possible by printing from the original plates and by the author’s acceptance of a reduced royalty.”  The front flap also has a summary of the book.  The back flap has a summary of Madame Bovary.  The back of the dust jacket has a list of books from Madison Square Books, a Grosset & Dunlap company.  28 authors are listed including Pearl Buck, Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, James Hilton, Jack London, Van Wyck Mason, Christopher Morley.

***I have not seen this book in red boards or this dust jacket.  I have only seen the blue boards and the landscape or movie dust jacket.

Author:  E. Barrington (the pen name for L. Adams Beck, which is an alias for Lily Moresby Adams Beck)

Illustrator:  none listed

Publisher:  Grosset & Dunlap of New York by arrangement with Dodd, Mead & Company.

Printer:  none stated

Copyright:  1924 by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc.

Edition or printing:  1941

Synopsis:  This is a biographical novel of the love affair between Emma Hamilton Admiral Nelson.  The facts in their lives are strictly adhered to - from the narration of Emma Hamilton's various affairs before she met the sailor in Naples down to Trafalgar and its aftermath.

Libraries:  Combined, University and public libraries hold approximately 130 copies of this title.  There are many versions to the copies. (data collected 2-3-08)