Lee, Harper

To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia & New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1960

In 8s (8 x 5 3/8 in.; 204 x 137 mm). Occasional staining, title-page and facing page browned from clipping, text block cocked. Publisher's half green cloth over brown boards; stained, foxed, rubbed.

Mary Jo Andress (presentation inscription) — gift to her daughter (with subsequent inscription; a letter from the consignor with further details of the Lee-Andress friendship and a photograph of the two of them at Andress's 80th birthday party will accompany the lot)

Presentation copy, inscribed and signed twice by Lee on the front free endpaper: "To Mary Jo: Yours in Mesmerism, Nelle Harper Lee September 2, 1960" and "To Pam with my best wished, Nelle Harper Lee November 15, 1964."

This copy of To Kill a Mockingbird was first inscribed to Mary Jo Andress, a suitemate of Lee's at Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama. According to Andress's family, Andress once hypnotized Lee, thus curing her of a migraine headache and leading to the reference to mesmerism in the inscription. Four years later, Lee added the second inscription to Andress's daughter. In 1962, Lee also invited Andress and her daughter to meet Gregory Peck, who was visiting her in Monroevilled during the early production of the film adaptation of the novel. Pam was able to obtain Peck's autograph that evening, and it is mounted on the front pastedown. While later signed copies of Mockingbird are occasionally seen, truly contemporary presentation inscriptions by Harper Lee are very rare.