"My Brother's Keeper" by Marcia Davenport; published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1954. First edition with "1954" imprinted on the title page, copyright 1954 and Scribner's colophon on the copyright page. The novel is based on the true story of the Collyer brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding.

Hard boards, dark-blue cloth with golden signature on front board, and gold lettering on spine [some wear and soiling: see photos]; 5.3/4” x 8.3/4”; name and "12-54" is ink written on the front endpaper, 457 pages, very good condition.

A real life case of two brothers who lived and died in New York City -- men of good family, with a background of cultivation, education and ample means. . .living and dying in the squalor of a rotting, rat-infested glory-hole, in apparent poverty but with plenty of money in the bank; Why? How did it all come about?

Inspired by the 1947 New York Times articles detailing items taken from the Collyers' brownstone house after their deaths, Davenport constructed a tale of the Holt brothers, one a failing concert pianist and the other a naval architect, and the events that prompted them to become recluses in later life.

"Dramatic and charged with emotional violence..."

Under tons of rubbish, rat-infested and filthy, the police found the bodies of two enormously wealthy old men. Once they had been gay and talented men about town. Why did these two, who had everything, live out their lives as hermits in a nightmare of gruesome squalor?

The answer lay in the monstrous house - in diaries, sealed boxes and trunks filled with the rotting splendor of a woman's clothes.

For two women had twisted the lives of Seymour and Randall Holt beyond all human understanding. The first did it by devilish design. The second because she was the sort of woman who loved too often and too well.

"My Brother's Keeper is an extraordinary novel which goes behind the newspaper headlines and creates with fine imagination, credible detail and unflagging interest the raison d'etre... of the famous 'Collyer Case.'" [Boston Herald]

Marcia Davenport [1903-1996] was an American writer and music critic. She is best known for her 1932 biography of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the first American published biography of Mozart.

US: Priority (c 2-4 days) ----------- $12.50
Canada: Priority (c 2-6 weeks) -- $32.50
World: Priority (c 2-8 weeks) --- $48.50