The Night of the Hunter (First Edition)

GRUBB, Davis. The Night of the Hunter. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953.

Octavo. Original quarter black cloth and blue boards, spine lettered in silver. Original unclipped illustrated dust jacket. [x], 273 pp. First edition, first printing. The author's first novel.

Davis Grubb (1919–1980) drew directly on a true piece of American criminal history in writing his debut novel: the case of Harry Powers, the West Virginia "Bluebeard" murderer hanged in 1932 for the killing of two widows and three children, whom he had lured through lonely-hearts correspondence. Grubb transformed this material into Harry Powell, a self-styled travelling preacher with the words LOVE and HATE tattooed across the knuckles of his two hands. Published in 1953, the novel was a national bestseller and a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award, and drew early and enthusiastic praise from fellow American writers Nelson Algren and Walter Van Tilburg Clark, the latter calling it a debut with "power, poetry, imagination."

The novel's provides the source for the 1955 film, adapted for the screen by James Agee and directed by Charles Laughton added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1992, restored by the Criterion Collection, and consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, its stark expressionist visual style and Mitchum's genuinely terrifying performance now regarded as touchstones of American film.

Near fine in good dust jacket. Jacket chipped at spine head, a bit creased and worn at points along edges. Volume in wonderful condition. Binding tight. Albeit for a touch of browning, contents clear and bright. Well preserved.

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Catalogue Number: HH000247