Seed: A Novel of Birth Control

Garden City: Doubleday, Doran, 1930. First Edition. Basis for the 1931 film directed by John M. Stahl. Included with the book is an extraordinary original bi-fold program for the April 17, 1931 Hollywood premiere of Stahl's film at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, printed in black and gold on lavender card stock, styled to emulate the novel's dust jacket, with Rockwell Kent's beautiful jacket illustration replicated on the front cover.

A native of Chicago, Charles Norris worked as a journalist for some years before finding success as a novelist and playwright whose prescient fiction often dealt with contentious issues like modern education, hereditary and environmental influences, big business, and ethics. His eighth novel advocates for reproductive choice, relating the story of a Catholic family gradually torn apart by too many children and lack of access to birth control.

Book: Fine and unread in a Fine dust jacket. Contemporary owner name on front pastedown.

Film program: Lavender card stock, with titles and design in black and gilt. Fine.

[Book #148682]