Berlin: August Scherl G.m.b.H., [1926]. Octavo, 3 volumes, each volume containing four inserted plates with eight film stills (all the same), original pictorial wrappers. First, second and third printings of the German photoplay edition. The first three printings of the German photoplay edition. The first printing has the Willy Reimann illustration of Metropolis (depicting a futuristic megalopolis). The second and third printings use the now iconic Werner Graul illustration. The books are accompanied by a card inscribed and signed by director Fritz Lang: "Greetings / from / METROPOLIS / Fritz Lang" and the rare German advertising herald for the film (we have seen only one other copy offered for sale). METROPOLIS is a novelization of the screenplay written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou of the 1926 UFA film. "Though often described as the first SF epic of the cinema, this famous German film -- of which no complete version now exists -- has just as much in common with the cinema of the Gothic. Though set in a future visually emphasized by towering buildings and vast brooding machines, the city of Metropolis has an underworld dark and medieval in atmosphere ... The story of METROPOLIS is trite and its politics ludicrously simplistic; but these flaws cannot detract from the sheer visual power of the film -- a combination of the high Expressionistic sets (the work of art directors Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut and Karl Vollbrecht) and Lang's direction ... METROPOLIS, which was extremely expensive and not a financial success, almost bankrupted the studio that made it (UFA). The film was cut almost as soon as it was released, and -- still in the 1920s -- shortened yet more radically in the UK and USA. Even recently restored archival versions are half an hour shorter than the original." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 804-5. The dark dystopian vision of the future city continues influence film today in such examples as BLADE RUNNER and DARK CITY. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-23; (1981) 2-112; (1987) 2-123 and (1995) 2-132. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1040. Fisher, Fantasy and Politics: Visions of the Future in the Weimar Republic, pp. 126-37; 139-42. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 198. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1383-86. Bloch (2002) 1370. Nagl, p. 256.

New York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1929. Octavo, pp. [i-ii] iii-vi 1 [2] 3-307 [308], fly leaf front and rear, ten inserted plates of film stills, original blue cloth, front and spine stamped in orange. First U. S. edition. The 1928 silent thriller Spies (Spione), a UFA production, was directed by Fritz Lang, his first film after Metropolis. An under appreciated film production which was adapted by his wife from her story. The film starred Willy Fritsch and Gerda Maurus.

London: Todd Publishing Group, Ltd., 1954. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Digest sized magazine. The final issue. Well regarded mystery magazine which featured largely reprints featuring top-notch writers. The first few U.S. issues were U. K. issues with over printed U. S. prices, but that changed from April 1953 onwards (with printed printed price of .35). At that point the U.S. volume numbers did not match the date/volume numbers of the U.K. editions. This issue includes Sydney Horler, Margery Allingham, Peter Cheyney, and others. See Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 310-311.

London: Todd Publishing Group, Ltd., 1954. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Digest sized magazine. Well regarded mystery magazine which featured largely reprints featuring top-notch writers. The first few U.S. issues were U. K. issues with over printed U. S. prices, but that changed from April 1953 onwards (with printed printed price of .35). At that point the U.S. volume numbers did not match the date/volume numbers of the U.K. editions. This issue includes Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Algernon Blackwood, Sydney Horler and others. See Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 310-311.

London: Todd Publishing Group, Ltd., 1953. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Digest sized magazine. Well regarded mystery magazine which featured largely reprints featuring top-notch writers. The first few U.S. issues were U. K. issues with over printed U. S. prices, but that changed from April 1953 onwards (with printed printed price of .35). At that point the U.S. volume numbers did not match the date/volume numbers of the U.K. editions. This issue includes George Simenon, Agatha Christie, Peter Cheyney, Leslie Charteris and others. See Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 310-311.

London: Todd Publishing Group, Ltd., 1953. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Digest sized magazine. Well regarded mystery magazine which featured largely reprints featuring top-notch writers. The first few U.S. issues were U. K. issues with over printed U. S. prices, but that changed from April 1953 onwards (with printed printed price of .35). At that point the U.S. volume numbers did not match the date/volume numbers of the U.K. editions. This issue includes Erle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Graham Greene and others. See Cook, Mystery, Detective and Espionage Magazines, pp. 310-311.

New York: A. L. Burt Company Publishers, [1930]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-282 [283-288: ads], original red cloth, spine panel stamped in black. Photoplay edition. First printing of the photoplay edition with four stills from the 1930 Metro-Goldwyn Mayer film "The Unholy Three," directed by Jack Conway, starring Lon Chaney, which was based on this macabre mystery novel about three criminous circus misfits, also known as "The Terrible Three" and THE THREE FREAKS. This was Chaney's last film and only talking picture, a remake of Tod Browning's 1925 silent film in which Chaney also starred. See Barron (ed), Horror Literature 3-166. Bleiler (1948), p. 236. Hubin (1994), p. 686.

New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, n.d., [1926]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1-2] 3-418 [419-426: ads], four inserted plates from the film, original light blue cloth stamped in black. Later edition. Issued to coincide with the 1926 Paramount film production starring Ronald Coleman. Includes a 6-page afterword by Glendon Allvine about the making of the Paramount film in the Arizona desert.