RANDOM HARVEST (First Edition, Inscribed to Horace McCoy, referencing his admiration for McCoy's masterpiece: "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?")

Hilton, James. RANDOM HARVEST. Boston: Little, Brown, 1941. First Edition, first printing. A NEAR FINE copy (top edge lightly foxed) in a priced Near Fine dust jacket (back panel lightly soiled, slight wear to the extremities). A REMARKABLE HOLLYWOOD PRESENTATION COPY: "For Horace McCoy/ with admiration for 'They Shoot Horses, Don't they?'/ James Hilton/ Jan. 1941." Hilton authored the modern Utopian masterpiece LOST HORIZON (1933) as well as the beloved novel GOODBYE MR. CHIPS (1934). RANDOM HARVEST is no less brilliant and it is often cited as James Hilton's best written novel. It was memorably filmed in 1941, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson as two lovers thwarted by amnesia in the aftermath of the first World War, earning 7 Oscar Nominations including Best Picture. Horace McCoy's THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? (published in 1934) is now regarded as one of the most striking and upsetting tales of the Great Depression, a novel which follows the desperate lives of a doomed group of Hollywood failures who seek their last hope in the winning of a dance marathon and its prize money. It was belatedly filmed in 1969, winning 9 Oscar nominations. For those who enjoy math, the film adaptations of RANDOM HARVEST and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? received a total of 17 Oscar nominations between them. An ideal association copy.…