A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- First Printing inscribed by Betty Smith five days after Publication Date

First printing in a first-state dust jacket with no text on reverse. Very good plus with fading to spine and touch of soiling; interior bright and clean save for touch of foxing to a few pages. In a supplied very good unrestored first printing dust jacket ($2.75 price intact) with wear to folds and extremities, minor clear tape residue near top of spine, and faint staining to top edge of flaps. INSCRIBED BY BETTY SMITH on the flyleaf: "For John and Darice from Betty Smith Aug. 23, 1943" (five days after the publication date). Ms. Smith moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1938 and wrote the novel while living there--this copy came from an estate two streets over from where she lived. A rare inscribed copy of this famous novel, basis for the 1945 film directed by Elia Kazan.