No Time for Sergeants

New York: Random House, 1954. Hardcover. 8vo. Tan cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 214pp. Fine/very good. Light jacket edgewear. Exceptionally bright and tight, though just a book club edition -- but what a book club copy it is! This bestselling comic novel was turned into a 1955 Broadway play and then in 1958 a film, launching both Andy Griffith and Don Knotts to stardom. Tipped to the front flyleaf of this primo copy are three choice autograph additions: At top is an irregular squarish 4½" X 3" slip boldly inscribed and signed in blue ballpoint by Andy Griffith (1926-2012), who plays lead character Will Stockdale in the stage play, t.v. adaptation and film: "Best of Luck to / Donald M. Burnell / Andy Griffith." Very good. Horizontal fold and tape stain at each corner. Undated, but circa 1960. Below this is an irregular shaped 3½" X 3" slip boldly inscribed and signed in green fineline by Nick Adams (1931-68), who plays draftee Benjamin B. Whitledge in the film: "To Donald / Luck Always / Nick Adams / -- The Rebel--." Very good. Several small tape stains along edges. Undated, but circa 1960. And lastly, below this is a fine heavy stock 5" X 2" card signed boldly in blue fineline by Will Hutchins (born 1930), who plays Lt. George Bridges in the film; he dates it "June 20, 1988" at upper right and adds a delightful tiny caricature of his face screwed up. Adams (who notes "The Rebel" because he play Johnny Yuma on the t.v. series "The Rebel, 1959-61) died tragically at age 36, making his autograph material quite scarce.