N.p. N.p., 1956, 1963. Small archive consisting of two notes from film director and author Kenneth Anger to his friend, British film critic Roy Edwards. Two items are dated 1956 and 1963, pretty much the epicenter of Anger's coming into prominence as a film director of importance, with the releases of "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" (1953) and "Scorpio Rising,"...
N.p., March 4, 1928. Typed letter signed by Herbert Asbury, on his personal coated stationery, with his New York City address. A letter with significant content, including detailed mention of the author's non-fiction book, "The Gangs of New York," as well as his newspaper work and injuries sustained during the war. The letter reads: “I am sorry not to have...
New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux [FSG], 1964. First Edition. Very Good in a Near Fine dust jacket. Front flyleaf neatly excised. Jacket has a few splashes and light fading to the orange at the spine, with two tiny closed tears at the crown. An attractive copy.
1968. Typed letter signed from novelist Peter Benchley to Daniel Selznick, dated October 24, 1968, on Benchley's personal Siasconset, Massachusetts stationery. At this point in time, Benchley had published only a nonfiction book titled "Time and a Ticket," but had conceived the idea for "Jaws," loosely based on shark attacks on the Jersey shore beaches in 1916. He originally wanted...
N.p. N.p., 1973. Lengthy typed letter signed from Stan Brakhage to Will Petersen, roughly 500 words, dated May 28, 1973. Petersen was the director of the Creative Arts Center at West Virginia University, and Brakhage's letter confirms an upcoming talk at the university and answers in some detail a number of Petersen's questions. With Brakhage's holograph signature in black ink...
France: 79th Division, May 8, 1919. An archive of material from James M. Cain's estate, originally from his office, relating to the newspaper edited (and largely written) by James M. Cain, The Lorraine Cross, during his service with the 79th Division of the US Army of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War I. Included are: James M. Cain's own copy...
N.p. N.p., 1929. Purchase, Rights, and Royalties agreement between James M. Cain and Alfred A. Knopf for Cain's first book, Our Government. SIGNED by both Cain and Knopf, with numerous hand corrections and initials by both parties, the most notable being a notation by Knopf on the first page that the contract was voided by way of a letter from.....
Paris: Cinedis, 1962. Typed letter signed from director Rene Clair to Mr. Gay-Lussac at Cinedis, the prominent French film distribution company, signed by Clair in holograph ink. In it, he requests some photograph negatives for "Port de Lilas" (1957, released in the US as "The Gates of Paris"), on behalf of a press agent who inquired of them, and Clair...
1968. Autograph note signed from noted director Rene Clair to producer Daniel Selznick, executed on hotel airmail stationery. In French. Included are two photostat copies of related letters from Selznick to Clair (also in French), as well as a ditto-style mimeograph copy of a wire from Clair to Selznick noting where Clair is staying during May 1968. The letters involve...
N.p. N.p., 1944, 1946, 1949. Archive of four letters between Carl Theodore Dreyer and film historian and eventual "Cahiers du Cinema" co-founder Joseph-Marie Lo Duca primarily regarding Lo Duca's proposed sound-added release of Dreyer's 1927 silent masterpiece "The Passion of Joan of Arc," and the French release of Dreyer's 1943 film "Day of Wrath." Included in the archive are carbon...
1968. Autograph note signed from noted screenwriter Carl Foreman to producer Daniel Selznick, executed on Foreman's production company stationery (Open Road Films, Limited in London). In the letter, Foreman agrees to meet with Selznick to discuss a project Selznick is working on for Universal. Included are two photostat copies of related letters from Selznick to Foreman, going into some detail...
1969. Autograph note signed from composer Adele Franz to producer Daniel Selznick. The note, executed on Franz's stationery, noting that she is delivering herewith the LP soundtrack recording for an obscure play titled, "Long Time Between Loves," along with a script for same. Included is a photostat of Selznick's detailed response, in which he mentions his favorite songs on the...
1968-1969. Two typed letters signed (one with cartoon illustration) and one autograph postcard signed from director Samuel Fuller to Daniel Selznick (along with a carbon of Selznick's reply). The letters make reference to "The Eccentrics" a project that Fuller had written a screenplay for and very nearly made. Fuller notes that Janet Leigh had replaced Jennifer Jones as the current...
N.p. N.p., 1979-1997. Archive of 22 pieces of correspondence between writer Larry Gelbart and director Robert Parrish, consisting of nine typescripts, six of which are INSCRIBED, plus three autographed letters signed, one typed letter signed, and six autographed notes from Gelbart to Parrish, as well as three outgoing carbons of letters written from Parrish to Gelbart and a seven-page typescript.....
1969-1970. Small archive including two typed letters signed from producer Leland Hayard to producer David O. Selznick regarding a new adaptation of the 1951 autobiographical novel "My Six Convicts." Also included are photostat copies of Selznick's enthusiastic responses to same. In the first of the two letters, Hayward briefly notes that he is sending Selznick a copy of Wilson's novel...
Los Angeles: Self published, 1940. First Draft script for an unproduced film titled "And Now Goodbye," an adaptation of his 1931 novel. Included are three typed letters signed by Hilton. Each letter is from Hilton to producer Lester Cowan on Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, and RKO Radio Pictures letterhead, dated October 24, 1939, May 14, 1940, and May 22, 1940...
N.p. N.p., Circa 1956. Autograph note signed from a very young Angelica Huston to "Uncle Paul," John Huston's longtime agent Paul Kohner, thanking him for the Christmas gift of a "[pair of] mittens and cap." She goes on to detail gifts she received from her father, mother, and Santa, as well as a gift her brother Tony received. Although the.....
Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1976. First Edition. Catalog of an exhibition held from October 31 to December 5, 1976 of the letters of Ray Johnson, one of the founders of the mail art movement and member of the New York Correspondence School. The catalog contains 84 reproductions of letters by Johnson, many running multiple leaves. Unbound and housed...
Los Angeles: Stanley Kramer Productions, 1968. Typed letter signed from director Stanley Kramer to Daniel Selznick, dated April 8, 1968, on his Stanley Kramer Productions stationery with an address in Hollywood. Included is a carbon of the original letter from Selznick to Kramer. In the brief letter, Kramer kindly declines Selznick's proposal to meet and discuss a funded project with...
1969. Typed letter signed from director Fritz Lang to Daniel Selznick, dated March 4, 1969, on Lang's two-color printed letterhead. Included are two photocopied letters from Selznick to Lang that correspond to this one. In the letter, Lang responds saying that he would love to meet, and details his travel plans for the late winter and early spring of 1969...
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. First Edition. INSCRIBED by the author on the verso of the half title page: "For my dear friend / Paul Sullivan / truly one of the great Gaels / with admiration / Morgan Llywelyn." The author's first book. Laid in is a one page typed letter signed from Llywelyn to Sullivan, dated March 23, 1982. In...
N.p. N.p., 1956-1957. An archive of 6 autograph letters signed by Kenneth Millar (a.k.a. Ross Macdonald), 4 to book illustrator, longtime friend, and Santa Barbara neighbor Don Freeman, and 2 to an old professor and mentor from Ontario, Frank Stirling. A fascinating and unique collection of correspondence from Millar, full of personal inquiries, casual observations, and progress reports on children.....
N.p. N.p., 1953-1986. A collection of 4 autograph letters signed by Kenneth Millar (a.k.a. Ross Macdonald), quite strong in content, addressing a wide range of topics. Also included is a very humorous response to a "Celebrity Questionnaire." Ranging from 1955, the letters typically detailed, lengthy, and thoughtful. Among the topics addressed in the letters are: an effusive recommendation for fellow.....
N.p. N.p., 1981. Typed letter signed from James Michener to noted author and interviewer Richard Davison, dated December 19, 1981, executed on Michener's St. Michaels, MD stationery. With the original mailing envelope, matching the stationery with Michener's name and address on the rear flap. The content in the letter is exceptional, with Michener going into some detail about how Frank...
1968. Autograph letter signed from Russian dancer and ballet teacher Vera Nemtchinova to Daniel Selznick, undated but juding from the format of the telephone number and zip code printed on the stationery, likely written in the late 1960s. Executed on Ms. Nemtchinova's personal stationery, with the address of her Ballet School at the Hotel Ansonia on 73rd and Broadway in...
1968. Typed letter signed from director Mike Nichols to Daniel Selznick, dated May 25, 1973, on his personal stationery noting an address on West 81st Street in New York City. Included is a carbon of Selznick's original letter to Nichols. In response to Selznick's praise of the May 21, 1973 premiere of Nichols' production of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" at...
San Francisco: AVA Books / Last Gasp, 1995. First Edition. Preview edition. A collection of letters penned by "Wanda Tinasky," a woman thought to be homeless and living in Mendocino County, California, who wrote playful letters to the Anderson Valley Advertiser between 1983 and 1988. Anderson, editor of the AVA, read Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel "Vineland" and immediately saw similarities...
Paris: L'Agence d'Informations Cinematographiques, 1962. Original promotional brochure from French journalist and press agent Rene Quinson to fellow press agent Maryse Martres, inscribed by Quinson in 1962. The brochure presents Quinson as an amateur psychic, predicting the recipient's future, leaning toward money, luck, and success. Quinson's inscription in holograph ink is rather illegible, but there are references to friendship and...
1968. Typed letter signed from novelist-screenwriter Erich Segal to Daniel Selznick, dated October 15, 1968, on two-color printed Yale University letterhead. At this point Segal had written the screenplay to the Beatles' animated feature, "Yellow Submarine," but the letter precedes by nearly two years Segal's phenomenal success as the author of the best selling "Love Story," as well as the...
N.p. N.p., 1957. An extraordinary letter from David O. Selznick to John Huston, dated March 19, 1957, on stationery bearing the heading of "David O. Selznick, Rome, Italy." Selznick's letter conveys his very detailed thoughts on the imminent commencement of shooting for "A Farewell to Arms," single-spaced and autocratic. Huston balked at Selznick's micromanagement and left the project. He was...
France: Somarco, 1950s. Original box of carbon paper from the Somarco paper company in France, circa 1950s. Box lid states "1,000 Feuilles" or 1,000 sheets, however the box itself is half-full, so presumably about 500 sheets remain. Three small reams in original folding chemises, with an extra ream from the Viennese company Kores laid in. Serial numbers and brief notations...
N.p. N.p., 1966. Two autograph letters signed from Cornell Woolrich to Don Yates, on stationery from the Sheraton-Russell Hotel in New York City, where Woolrich lived at the end of his life, each with the original mailing envelope postmarked April 30 and November 27, 1966 respectively. Also included is a Christmas card inscribed by Woolrich to Yates. Content from these...