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Auction: 26066 - Historical Documents, Autographs and Ephemera
Lot: 1344

(x) Literature and Film
"Island in the Sun", Alec Waugh, edition published by Cassell & Co Ltd., 3rd Ed. 1956; the first page with fourteen signatures from the cast of the 1957 Darryl F. Zanuck and Robert Rossen feature length film adaptation. Signed by: James Mason, Joan Fontaine, Dorothy Dandridge, Joan Collins, Michael Rennie, Harry Belafontane, Diana Wynyard, John Williams, Stephen Boyd, Patricia Owens, Basil Sydney, John Justin, Ronald Squire, Hartley Power. The title page inscribed "Evelyn Bethell", the contemporary owner of the book who lived on Barbados during filming.
The dust jacket with faults and crude repairs, and some foxing to pages otherwise sound and the signed page very clear.
An unusual and appealing item.

provenance:

This book as passed to its current owner by descent from their Mother-in-Law, Evelyn Bethell.

The film was shot both in Grenada and Barbados, where Evelyn lived and had featured, along with her husband, Fred, as extras in crowd scenes. Evelyn and Fred ran Friendship Plantation on Barbados, where Fred raised and trained race horses. One of his horses, 'Miss Friendship' was selected to be ridden by James Mason in the film but proved too lively for him and instead was ridden by a stand-in.

At a function to celebrate the end of filming, Evelyn took her copy of the book for the cast to sign.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£300 to £600

Starting price
£150