Goodbye, Mr. Chips

(London): Hodder & Stoughton, 1934. First English edition of James Hilton's tale of the shy schoolmaster Mr. Chipping, who over the course of a long career becomes a legend at Brookfield, "a good school of the second rank." Deeply Victorian in sympathy, "Mr. Chips" rises to the challenge of the First World War, and survives into the 1930s, beloved by generations of boys: "In my mind you never grow up at all. Never." Originally issued as a supplement to The British Weekly in 1933, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was reprinted in The Atlantic in April 1934, followed by book publication in the United States in June and England in October; the nostalgic novel was a runaway bestseller during the Depression, inspiring the Oscar-winning 1939 Hollywood film starring Robert Donat. This first English edition is wonderfully illustrated by Ethel "Bip" Pares, one of England's leading Art Deco book designers. Accompanied by two typed letters written and signed by Hilton, during his stint as a Hollywood screenwriter, to prolific Chicago-based author and anthologist Marjorie Barrows (1892-1983), regarding reprint rights for his short story "Mr. Chips Meets a Star" in The Family Reader. This was likely Barrows's personal copy of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, as Hilton's letters were once secured (via paper clip and tape) to the opening pages. A very good copy, with signed "Mr. Chips" correspondence laid in. Single volume, measuring 7.5 x 5.5 inches: 127, [1]. Original royal blue cloth lettered in gilt, endpapers printed in blue with Latin quotations, original unclipped pictorial dust jacket printed in blue and black. Title page printed in blue and black; black-and-white illustrations throughout text. Traces of tape to boards, endpapers, and front flyleaf; jacket lightly soiled, tape repairs to verso, shallow chips to head of spine and rear panel. WITH: two typed letters to Marjorie Barrows signed by Hilton, the first dated 1946 and measuring 8.5 x 7 inches, the second dated 1948 and measuring 5.75 x 6.5 inches.