The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
A letter from Daphne du Maurier's American publisher to a bookseller discussing the immediate success of Rebecca in the UK – September 1938
While carrying out some research, here at the Daphne du Maurier website, we have unearthed a fascinating and informative letter from Daphne du Maurier's American publisher, Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc. The letter was sent to a bookseller along with a signed copy of Rebecca. Sadly, we don't know who this particular bookseller was, or how many signed copies of Rebecca were sent to US booksellers with this or a similar letter. What we do know is that Daphne du Maurier signed copies of single pages, which were then bound into the US edition of Rebecca, when the books were manufactured, which is why signed copies of the US edition of Rebecca were available in the US so quickly. Again, we don't know how many of these books were produced with the bound-in signed page.
Victor Gollancz published Rebecca in the UK on 5th August 1938, and, as this letter confirms, it proved to be an instant success. It is such a delightful fact of the times that in 1938, news of the immediate success of Rebecca and the first reviews would have arrived in New York when the Queen Mary docked.
Cedric R. Crowell, who wrote the letter on behalf of Doubleday, entered the world of publishing when he graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a BA degree in 1913. The start of his career was interrupted by service in Europe during WW1, but on his return home, he joined Doubleday's staff, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was elected a director of the company in 1934.
Ralph Straus was a British literary critic and writer. Crowell was clearly very enthusiastic about the positive reviews from the UK, especially the London Sunday Times review by Ralph Straus. Adolf Kroch's enthusiasm for Rebecca also heartened him.
Kroch was an Austrian who studied at the University of Vienna before immigrating to the United States in 1902 and naturalising in 1908. He opened a book-store in Chicago and, over time, successfully built a chain of book-stores and became an acknowledged expert on books. We think the line in the letter, when Crowell quotes Kroch as saying:
… Please double our order for Kroch's.
is wonderful and so full of enthusiasm and positivity.
We know that Rebecca became Daphne du Maurier's most celebrated novel, and we know that it has never been out of print in the eighty-eight years since its first publication. We also know that the rights to the film were acquired quickly. In fact, the book Memo From David O. Selznick, selected and edited by Rudy Behlmer (published by Macmillan in 1973), includes letters that confirm that Selznick, who produced the film of Rebecca, had bought the film rights and lined up Alfred Hitchcock to be the film's director, before the book had even been published.
But it is interesting to read of the enthusiasm and excitement the book generated right from the moment Victor Gollancz published it on 5th August 1938, and the Queen Mary reached New York with the news!
Ann Willmore, June 2026.