A Candle for St. Jude

New York: The Viking Press, 1948. Hardcover. 8vo. Red cloth spine with gilt lettering and grey paper over boards, pictorial dust jacket. 252pp. Near fine/very good. Jacket rather edgeworn, a tad rubbed and with archivally closed tear on rear panel -- but complete and overall still appealing. Tight, attractive first edition of this tale of Madame Holbein's London ballet school -- and this copy with choice autograph additions: Tipped to front flyleaf are two fine, matching heavy stock 5" X 3" cards signed by two figures from the 1952 live "Westinghouse Studio One" television adaptation: At top is RUTHANA BORIS, who signs large and bold in black ballpoint and dates it 20 March 1982 at upper right, and below this is LILI DARVAS, who signs boldly in blue ink and dates it 23 May 1969 at upper right. Boris created the choreography for this production, while Darvas was its star. Boris (1918-2007) was a renowned ballet dancer and the first American to land starring roles in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1942-50); she was also a choreographer of note. Darvas (1902-74) was a Hungarian-born dancer and actress who starred in Max Reinhardt's legendary repertory company in the 1920s and '30s before emigrating to America, where she worked in radio, film, stage and television. Laid in are perfect bookmarks: Boris and Darvas original transmittal envelopes. A lovely, incredibly unusual copy.