The Duke Steps Out [*SIGNED*]

London: Stanley Paul & Co. Ltd.. Very Good-. [1930]. 1st U.K. edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a bit of soiling to covers, spine slightly turned, small black mark on top edge of text block, front hinge cracked but not split, light foxing to ffep]. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the ffep: "To His Grace, Eddie, / Duke of Collinsville / with the compliments / of the author / Lucian Cary / December 23, 1930." Comic novel about a young prizefighter who decides to return to college, partly to please his wealthy parents and partly to win the heart of a co-ed for whom he's fallen hard. Originally published serially in The Saturday Evening Post (August 4 - September 8, 1928), the yarn was filmed by M-G-M with William Haines and Joan Crawford; the movie (an early talkie) was released in April 1929, more or less concurrently with the appearance of the hardcover edition from Doubleday, Doran (which, somewhat weirdly, was put out as a regular novel rather than as any kind of photoplay edition or other direct tie-in with the film). The character was featured in a follow-up SEP short story, "The Duke Intervenes" and another serialized novel, "The Duke Comes Back" (1933), which in turn was the basis for a second "Duke" film, this time produced in a more low-rent district, by Republic Pictures in 1937. (And, not being a studio to let a good story property go un-strip-mined, Republic made yet another version just twelve years later, under the title DUKE OF CHICAGO.) Signed by Author .