ROOM AT THE TOP

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957. First American Edition, First Printing. 8vo, publisher’s original red boards backed in gray cloth, lettered on the spine in red. In the original pictorially decorated dustjacket unclipped and remarkably fresh. 301pp. A fine copy in like dustjacket, only a bit of dusting along the top page edges and the lightest evidence of age, internally pristine and appearing unread. FIRST EDITION of one of the most successful and critically acclaimed first novels of an author of the 20th century. John Braine was thirty-five at the time of the book’s first appearance. The first synopsis for the novel had been rejected in December 1951. Braine had abandoned his job as a librarian in Yorkshire and attempted to earn his living as a writer in London. He succeeded in selling a few articles to the New Statesman, The Tribune and other journals (as well as writing for some radio work). He was in hospital for eighteen months with tuberculosis and worked on this novel during that time. The book was accepted for publication in 1955. When it appeared in 1957 it sold 35,000 copies in its first year. At that time a “successful” first novel could be expected to sell 5,000 copies. Within a year of its publication the film rights were sold and it became the basis for the work directed by Jack Clayton. The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards and won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and one for best actress with Simone Signoret in the role. The film was also nominated for Best Picture.