MRS. ECKDORF IN O’NEILL’S HOTEL

The Bodley Head, London, 1969, 1^st.  ISBN 0-370-01421-9.  Hard cover, 304 pages.  Very good plus; blue boards with gilt lettering on spine; corners lightly bumped, light shelf wear; binding sound.  Dust jacket with price intact shows some edge and cover wear, a few short tears and creases; wear at corners and spine head with small losses; some age-toning and rub darkening on rear panel.  Book interior clean and unmarked; small spot on dedication page.  ‘Ivy Eckdorf, an unhappy woman and a highly professional photographer, has flown to Dublin for a purpose.  A hunch has convinced her that a once prosperous hotel, now reputedly a disorderly house in a back street, has a tragic but beautiful story to tell, a story that will benefit others when presented by her perceptive and unabashed camera – for the unvarnished truth, she believes, must always promote human understanding.  The tragedy of O’Neill’s Hotel proves elusive.  In her search … she finds these people as perplexing as they find her.  But while she is poking among their lives for colourful material to adorn the coffee tables of the rich, the story becomes Mrs Eckdorf’s.  In a strange city – too strange for her, or perhaps for anybody, to understand – she comes, strangely, into her own.’ (from front flap)