Daphne du Maurier – Not After Midnight [Featuring ‘Don’t Look Now’] – First Edition 1971

First edition, first printing of Not After Midnight by Daphne du Maurier, published by Gollancz in London, 1971. This is a near fine copy free from internal inscriptions, with spotting to the top edge of text block, the text block with slight toning. In a near fine unclipped wrapper with bumping to the extremities and fading to the spine. Jacket painting by Flavia Tower.

Not After Midnight is a collection of five eerie and psychologically rich short stories by Daphne du Maurier. Blending suspense, the supernatural and the uncanny, the stories—Don’t Look Now, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross, and The Breakthrough—explore themes of identity, grief, guilt and the unknown. With her trademark atmospheric detail and psychological depth, du Maurier crafts unsettling narratives that linger long after reading, showcasing her mastery of dark, thought-provoking fiction.

Don’t Look Now is a haunting short story about a grieving couple, John and Laura, who travel to Venice after the death of their daughter. There, they encounter mysterious twins—one claiming to be psychic—who warn them of danger. The story builds psychological suspense and foreboding. It inspired Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 film of the same name, a visually striking, emotionally intense adaptation that explores grief, perception and fate, becoming a classic of psychological horror cinema.