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SCHREIBER, Flora Rheta
Sybil: The True Story of a Woman Possessed by 16 Separate Personalities
Chicago, Henry Regnery, (1973). An unlikely bestseller and the basis for films in both 1976 and 2007, Sybil first brought attention to child abuse and dissociative identity disorder (then known as multiple personality disorder) and, later and inadvertently, to a much broader array of issues (a client potentially manipulating a therapist for attention; a therapist potentially using a case for notoriety or profit; clinical misdiagnoses in general, particularly of women; and, in this case at least, the harmful effects of media exposure on mental illness). This copy is inscribed by both the author and by Sybil's therapist, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur in the year of publication. Both inscriptions express gratitude for the arrangement of what appears to have been a joint appearance. Together with a copy of the uncorrected proof, which lacks both the preface of the published text (called "My Extraordinary Friend" in the proof and titled "Sybil" in the text) as well as one paragraph of acknowledgments. The proof has notes and phone numbers on the front cover; very good in wrappers. The book has foxing to the edges of the text block and a bit of wear to the spine ends; very good in a very good dust jacket with wear at the ends and corners. Uncommon copies of a ground-breaking book.
[#036493]
$850
All books are first printings of first editions or first American editions unless otherwise noted.