New York: Rodale, 2009

Large 8vo, pp. 215. Original blue boards, lettered in blind on spine. A fine copy in a lightly marked but otherwise fine dustwrapper.

First edition, INSCRIBED BY OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND TO THE FILM DIRECTOR JAMES IVORY: 'For James Ivory on his eighty-second birthday with admiration and very much affection from Olivia de H. Paris June 7 2010 (simultaneously (though not quite together) we have felt the earth tremble!). Please overlook the savage caricature on page 64!'.

Olivia de Havilland is one of the last surviving stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, and a long time resident of Paris, where this book was inscribed. It was presented to Ivory during a trip there to attend a festival of Merchant-Ivory films presented by the American University. The opening night, a screening of Le Divorce at the residence of the American ambassador, was attended by Miss de Havilland, with whom Ivory was hoping to work on a film version of The Aspern Papers. (The film has not been made).

The 'savage caricature' mentioned in the inscription refers to the pen portrait of Miss de Havilland which accompanies her entry in the book. Since she was ninety-four at the time of the presentation, and since Mr. Ivory is gay, it's probably safe to assume that the 'earth-trembling' reference is a mischievous allusion to a shared experience of an earthquake.

A wonderful association copy.