The Living and the Dead

New York: Ives Washburn, Inc.. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. 1957. First American Edition. Hardcover. [spine slightly turned, a little wear to top and bottom edges of covers, age-toning and minor soiling to edges of text block; jacket slightly chipped (with old small internal tape repairs) at spine ends (no impact on text), faint (almost invisible) vertical crease in spine, light soiling to rear panel, a couple of tiny nicks in bottom edge of rear panel]. Yep, it's the book from which Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO -- anointed The Greatest Film of All Time by the British Film Institute's "Sight and Sound" panelists' poll -- was (rather freely) adapted. It's a must-have if you're a "books into film" collector, and considerably scarcer for some reason in the American edition than in the British, which preceded it by a year -- although if you're into that "true first edition" business, you really ought to be on the lookout for the French paperback original (Denoël, 1954) entitled "D'entre les morts," literally "From the Dead." (And if you think this one's expensive, prepare yourself for serious sticker shock if you happen to find that one.) .