Sayonara: A Japanese-American Love Story

New York: Random House, 1954 First edition, stated first printing, signed and inscribed by James Michener directly on the half-title page: "Doylestown Pa / Easter Sunday. / To Frederich B. Smillie, / A friend of my dear / Miss Lucie Price. / James A. Michener." Book with light toning to margins of endpapers, light toning along margins of half-title page, and faint toning to interior page margins, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with two short closed tears to upper front cover, light wear/rubbing to extremities, light toning to spine/flap margins/back cover, a faint sticker ghost near edge of front flap, and a vertical crease to back flap, else fine. Association: Miss Lucie Riddell Price was the Dean of libraries in Bucks County where Michener grew up as a child. Price's library career began in Doylestown when she opened the town's first free library, the Melinda Cox Library: One of the first to sign up for a library card was 10-year-old James A. Michener. Michener's novel, Return to Paradise, was later dedicated to Miss Lucie Price, who was credited as the person who taught Michener to love books. Basis for the 1957 film with Marlon Brando, Myoshi Umeki, Ricardo Montalban, Martha Scott and James Garner.