“GLORIOUSLY WITTY AND POLISHED”: FIRST EDITION OF THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

SPARK, Muriel. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. London: Macmillan, 1961. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. $850.

First edition of Muriel Spark’s eighth and best-loved novel, basis of the Oscar-winning movie starring Maggie Smith, in original dust jacket.

"The twinkling wit of Muriel Spark is always a joy to behold, and never more so, in my opinion, than in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (Connolly, 260). Spark's "distinctive elegant style, her use of the device of narrative omniscience, and the element of fable or parable often introduced into her fictions have influenced a whole generation of post-war writers" (Stringer, 636). The book was the basis for the Jay Presson Allen's hit play originally starring Vanessa Redgrave, the 1969 movie for which Maggie Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the 1978 Scottish television mini-series starring Geraldine McEwan. Callil & Tóibín, Modern Library's 200 Best Novels in English since 1950.

Book fine, price-clipped dust jacket with evidence of sticker removal to front flap, a bit of creasing to rear panel. A nearly fine copy.