Cain's Book

N.p. Associated British Picture Corporation, 1963. Original ribbon copy typescript three-page reader's summary and report for the 1960 novel by Alexander Trocchi. Summary and report made for the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) by an unidentified ABPC reader, dated "March 26th, 1963," with a received stamp dated "28 Mar 1963." Unique.

One of the most powerful media conglomerates in British cinema history, the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) was founded in 1927 with John Maxwell's acquisition of British National Pictures Studios and its Elstree Studios complex, first named British International Pictures (BIP).

The company was renamed ABPC in 1933 after acquiring British Pathé, and enabled the company to become a fully vertically integrated studio capable of producing, distributing, and exhibiting its own pictures. Following Maxwell's death in 1940, Warner Bros. purchased a large stake in the company, allowing ABPC to distribute its films into the lucrative US market, as well as taking an active stake in television by launching the Associated British Corporation (ABC). Amid the downturn in the British film industry by the late 1960s, EMI staged an aggressive takeover of ABPC in 1969, and by 1970 the name was officially retired.

At the height of ABPC's success in the 1950s and 1960s, its readers reviewed nearly everything being published, from established authors to those with recent screen success, to emerging new authors, in search of material for film adaptation.

The three-page reader's summary and report, written in the ABPC house style, includes a breakdown of the source material and publication information at the top of the first page (here under the title "The Young Adam"), followed by a summary, a list of characters names and descriptions, then a detailed synopsis on the second page, and finally the reader's comments on the material's quality and filmic possibilities on the third page. The unidentified ABPC reader comments on the novel include "the total result [of the story] is depressive and destructive," and "it does not appear to be a very hopeful movie project. Not recommended."

Published in 1960 as a sequel to Trocchi's 1954 novel, "Young Adam," chronicling the continuing aimless adventures of Scottish barge-worker Joe, living and working on a scow on the Hudson River in New York.

8 x 13 inches, perforation binding. Near Fine.

[Book #172890]