BETTE DAVIS: A BIOGRAPHY.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,subject's contemporary b/w portrait,by Skrebneski,photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with yellow+white lettering,critics' reviews in white lettering to black background on rear panel; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.Some inevitable scoring indentations to both panels - the rear panel most affected - but without adversely affecting the boards beneath.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright, tight, clean - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp, clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain yellow endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,1- 328pp [paginated] includes a prologue,29 chapters and an epilogue,24pp contemporary biographical b/w photographs in 3 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp88/9, pp152/3 and pp184/5 respectively,stage+film and television credits,acknowledgements, notes on sources,selected bibliography and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,and separate contents & illus lists/tables. Bette Davis was one of the greatest acting talents the screen has ever known,yet no previous book (then 1992) has gone beyond the glittering Davis legend to explore the real woman.In the first major biography of Davis since her death,Barbara Leaming tells the full,extraordinary story, with objectivity and passion. Bette Davis always aroused controversy: her famous legal battle with Warner Brothers,her four husbands,the shocking book ('My Mother's Keeper') written by her daughter B.D. Hyman.Yet she has always been seen as the heroine - until now.In this revelatory book,Barbara Leaming gives us a bracing cautionary tale of the dark side of power in Hollywood, and how a woman who amassed more power than any Hollywood actress before or since used that power to destroy others,her own family and - in the end - herself.It is a story of abandonment,alcoholism,domestic violence, obsessive-compulsive behaviour,religious fanaticism and insanity passed from generation to generation.Barbara Leaming has drawn on hundreds of hours of conversation with Davis's friends,lovers, professional associates and family members,and is the only biographer to have interviewed Bette's daughter B.D.In addition, she has combed through thousands of documents including Davis's personal diaries,scrapbooks,unpublished letters and copiously annotated scripts.The result is a compelling portrait that redefines one of Hollywood's most misunderstood legends. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!