Film & TV source books
LA PLANETE DES SINGES: ROMAN.
[Paris]: Le Cercle du Nouveau Livre, [1963]. gold and blind stamped green cloth. First edition. Number 507 of an unstated limitation. Published in English as PLANET OF THE APES (1963). Basis for two films and numerous sequels. "Boulle made the Earth astronauts' visit to a far planet where apes are the dominant species and humans a despised under class a parable of racial and other social failings on Earth..." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-26. Survey of Science Fiction Literature IV, pp. 1692-96.
BLACK HAWK DOWN: A STORY OF MODERN WAR.
New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, [1999]. Octavo, boards. First edition. The story of U.S. Special Forces in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. Made into a successful film in 2001 directed by Ridley Scott.
THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1953. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collects twenty-two stories including "The Fog Horn," "The Pedestrian," and "A Sound of Thunder." The author's fourth book. "The Fog Horn" is the source story for the film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" (1952) and "A Sound of Thunder" was filmed in 2006. Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-62. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 258.
THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN.
Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1953. Octavo, boards. First edition. Collects twenty-two stories including "The Fog Horn," "The Pedestrian," and "A Sound of Thunder." The author's fourth book. "The Fog Horn" is the source story for the film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" (1952) and "A Sound of Thunder" was filmed in 2006. Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-62. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 258.
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1950. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collection of closely linked stories about the exploration and colonization of the planet Mars. A masterpiece of 20th Century science fiction. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-32. Bleiler: The Guide to Supernatural Fiction #255. Pringle: Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels #3.
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1950. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Collection of closely linked stories about the exploration and colonization of the planet Mars. A masterpiece of 20th Century science fiction. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-154. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-32. Bleiler: The Guide to Supernatural Fiction #255. Pringle: Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels #3.
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES...
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962. Octavo, cloth. First edition. "...remains the quintessential Bradbury fiction." – Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature IV, pp. 1769-73. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 4A-45. Barron (ed), Horror Literature 4-51.
THE MISTS OF AVALON.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, [1982]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Publisher's promotional materials laid in. The legend of King Arthur from the viewpoint of the women characters. Made into a television mini-series. Barron (ed.): Fantasy Literature 4A-48.
THE POSTMAN.
Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, Auckland: Bantam Books, [1985]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Signed by Brin on the title page. A post-holocaust story set in America's Pacific Northwest after a destructive nuclear war about a man who transforms himself into a postman, a teller of tales and a carrier of news between scattered communities. "A piously scientistic moral tale which proved popular but was excoriated by some critics." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 285. "I refuse to accept delivery of any of THE POSTMAN'S messages." - Lee Montgomerie, Interzone. Winner of the 1986 John W. Campbell Award for best novel. 1986 Hugo nominee. The novel was the basis for a 1997 film starring Kevin Costner. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-161. Brians, Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895-1984, p. 146.
THE STUNT MAN.
New York: Atheneum, 1970. Octavo, Hardcover. First edition. Basis for an interesting film.
THE BRICK FOXHOLE.
New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, [1945]. Octavo, cloth. First edition. The author's first book. Written when the author was a serviceman in the Marines the story has themes of racial bigotry and anti-Semitism and centers on homophobia and murder. Source for the noir film "Crossfire" (1947), which changed the theme to anti-semitism. Brooks wrote two more novels and had a very successful career in the film industry as a writer, director and producer. Hubin, p. 106. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 85. Silver and Ward (eds.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd edition), pp. 73-74. Johnson, The Dark Page, p. 34.
THE DA VINCI CODE.
New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday, [2003]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Runaway bestseller mystery about the Holy Grail and secret societies. Made into a feature film with Tom Hanks.
THE DA VINCI CODE.
New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday, [2003]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. Runaway bestseller mystery/thriller about the Holy Grail and secret societies. Basis for the feature film starring Tom Hanks.
THE SCREAMING MIMI.
New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. Basis for the 1958 film noir with Anita Ekberg, Phil Carey and Gypsy Rose Lee. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 344. Keaney, Film Noir Guide, p. 372. Not in Silver and Ward.
THE SCREAMING MIMI.
New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. Basis for the 1958 film noir with Anita Ekberg, Phil Carey and Gypsy Rose Lee. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 344. Keaney, Film Noir Guide, p. 372. Not in Silver and Ward.
THE SCREAMING MIMI.
New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. Basis for the 1958 film noir with Anita Ekberg, Phil Carey and Gypsy Rose Lee. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 344. Keaney, Film Noir Guide, p. 372. Not in Silver and Ward.
THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS.
Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1915. Octavo, [1-9] 10-253 [254: Ads], original blue cloth, front and spine stamped in dark blue. First edition. The first Richard Hannay novel. Filmed memorably by Alfred Hitchcock. Barzun & Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime (1989), p. 81. Haycraft-Queen cornerstone. Hubin, p. 114. McCormick and Fletcher, Spy Fiction: A Connoisseur's Guide, pp. 40-41. Smith and White, Cloak and Dagger Fiction (3rd ed.), p. 10.
WHO?
New York: Pyramid Books, [1958]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Pyramid Books G339. "An American scientist is badly injured in an explosion, then "repaired" by Soviet doctors and returned to the USA. The problem is that he is now virtually a cyborg and no one can be sure of his identity. A clever cold-war thriller which established this young writer's reputation." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 419. "A strong indictment of the idiocies dignified at that time (and to a great extent still today) as 'security,' but a parable also of estrangement and alienation more generally." - Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-183. "Perhaps as fine a study of dehumanization and alienation as SF will ever produce." - Gene Wolfe. 1959 Hugo nominee. Filmed in 1973 with Elliott Gould and Trevor Howard, it is faithful to the concept of the novel. Retitled for the video release as Roboman, apparently to cash in on the Robocop craze. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2474-77.
THE ANIMAL FACTORY.
New York: The Viking Press, [1977]. Octavo, cloth backed boards. First edition. A novel of prison life. Made into a feature film.
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. Octavo, boards. First edition. "Equalling his best, Little Caesar, High Sierra, this is a sustained and relentless story of the planning and execution of a foolproof crime, the robbery of a jewelry store in a middle western city...And from the first premonitions to the first wrong moves, this follows through the aftermath of the crime, the dragnet and the chase which ended in death or capture... In its accuracy, its intensity, this is pretty hard to beat." - Kirkus review, 22 August, 1949. Basis for the classic film noir with Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe, directed by John Huston. Hubin, pp. 119-120. Selby, Dark City: The Film Noir, 17. Silver and Ward (eds.), Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd edition), pp. 13-15. Johnson, The Dark Page II, p. 18.
HIGH SIERRA.
New York [and] London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-292 [293: blank] [294: printer's information] [295-296: blank], original dark orange cloth, front, spine and rear stamped in gray, top edge stained red, fore edge uncut, bottom edge rough cut. First edition. Signed inscription by Burnett on the verso of the half title page: "For / Jean / sincere best / W R Burnett." This classic novel is "...in effect, the biography of Roy Earle, a fictional creation who reflects the lives of several eminent American outlaws of the 1920s and 1930s...Far from the myths created by J. Edgar Hoover's biased attitude toward the criminals of the 1930s, Burnett gives us a sad, sometimes surreal look at a true outlaw." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 100-101. Filmed in 1941 by Raoul Walsh from a screenplay by Burnett and John Huston, starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. Filmed as a Western in 1949, Colorado Territory and again in 1955 with Jack Palance as Roy Earle asI Died A Thousand Times. Hubin, pp. 119-120.
IRON MAN.
New York: Lincoln Mac Veagh The Dial Press ... Toronto: Longman, Green & Co., 1930. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-312, original blue cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, publisher's monogram stamped in blind on front panel, top edge stained red, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. Burnett's second novel, preceded by his well-received gangster novel, LITTLE CAESAR (1929). The rise and fall of a middleweight fighter who when he achieves success does not know how to deal with the hangers on and the users. Source for three film adaptations, Iron Man (1931 & 1951) and Some Blondes Are Dangerous (1937).
VANITY ROW.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Politics and big city corruption. The final volume in what some consider his "urban trilogy" about the slow decline and decay of the American city, preceded by THE ASPHALT JUNGLE and LITTLE MEN, BIG WORLD. Filmed in 1956 as "Accused of Murder." Hubin, pp. 119-120.
AT THE EARTH'S CORE ...
Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 1-277 [278: blank] [279-282: ads], nine inserted plates with illustrations by J. Allen St. John, original gray-green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. First edition. Prehistoric men and beasts are discovered in the earth's hollow interior. The first of the six novels comprising the Pellucidar series, first published as a four-part serial in ALL-STORY WEEKLY, 4 April through 25 April, 1914. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 2-25; (1981) 1-29; (1987) 1-15; (1995) 1-15; and (2004) II-191. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 311. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 104. Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 93-6. Bleiler (1978), p. 35. Reginald 02269. Heins AEC-1.
JUNGLE GIRL.
Tarzana, California: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Publishers, [1932]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5 [6] 7 [8] 9-318 [319: ads] [320: blank], six inserted plates with illustrations by Studley O. Burroughs, original blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in orange, top edge stained orange. First edition. An American explorer discovers an ancient civilization in the interior jungles of Cambodia. The second and scarcest book published by Burroughs's publishing company. Clareson, Science Fiction in America, 1870s-1930s 109. Bleiler (1978), p. 35. Reginald 02285. Heins JG-1.