Photoplay
BOSTON BLACKIE.
Boston: Gregg Press, 1979. Octavo, cloth. First Gregg Press edition. Text offset from the 1919 edition. New introduction by Edward Hoch. Includes twelve pages of stills from the Boston Blackie films. Item #22466
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ...
[New York]: A Signet Book Published by The New American Library, [1968]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First paperback edition. Signet Q3580. Photoplay edition with 16 pages of stills inserted. Novelization of the film which was based in part on the short story "The Sentinel." This paperback edition was released right on the heels of the hardcover edition, the hardcover had a June release date and the paperback published in July. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-254. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2343-9. Item #21157
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT.
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, 1928. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v-vi 1-261 [262; ad, 263-266; publishers catalog], frontispiece and seven inserted plates, original green cloth stamped in black. First edition. Photoplay edition, which is also the first edition, with stills from the famous 1927 MGM film starring Lon Chaney. This is a 'lost film', no known print of this film exists. Novelization of the Tod Browning screenplay. Item #11639
THE LOST WORLD.
New York: A.L. Burt Company, Publishers, n.d. [circa 1925]. Octavo, cloth. Later edition. Photoplay edition issued with the release of the 1925 First National film directed by Harry Hoyt and starring Wallace Beery, it has four stills from the motion picture. Interestingly this film is the first use of stop motion animation and features the work of animator Willis O'Brien who in 1933 would create King Kong. Another important note is that this film version of the Lost World was a 'lost' film. In a contractual agreement, all know prints (positive and negative) were destroyed in 1929. A truncated 16mm print was what remained until the 1990s when a nearly full length print was discovered in the film archives of the Czech Republic. Today two restored versions exist, one available on DVD, nearly complete and a third longer than any version up to this time with 30 minutes of footage replaced, the other restoration is the property of Eastman Kodak (information from an article at dvdjournal.com). Item #10110
![[METROPOLIS PHOTOPLAY ARCHIVE]: METROPOLIS. ROMAN ...[first photoplay edition] with METROPOLIS. ROMAN...[second photoplay edition] with METROPOLIS. ROMAN...[third photoplay edition]. With German film advertising herald and Fritz Lang signature. Thea von Harbou.](/pictures/thumb/15762.jpg?v=1434440717)
[METROPOLIS PHOTOPLAY ARCHIVE]: METROPOLIS. ROMAN ...[first photoplay edition] with METROPOLIS. ROMAN...[second photoplay edition] with METROPOLIS. ROMAN...[third photoplay edition]. With German film advertising herald and Fritz Lang signature.
Berlin: August Scherl G.m.b.H., [1926]. Octavo, 3 volumes, each containing four inserted plates with eight film stills, all bound in their original wrappers. First, second and third photoplay editions. The three issues of the German photoplay editions. The first photoplay uses the artwork from the hardcover edition by Willy Reimann depicting a futuristic megalopolis, the second and third issues uses what has become the iconic Werner Graul illustration. Laid in to the second printing is a card signed by the film director Fritz Lang: "Greetings / from / METROPOLIS / Fritz Lang." Also laid in is the rare German advertising herald for the film (we have only seen one other appear in the market place). Anti-utopia set in a gigantic city in the year 2000 "where capitalists oppress a mass of proletarian helots." - Fisher, p. 128. A restitution fantasy in which a patriarchal order is ultimately reestablished. Another interpretation: a parable of psychic integration won after perilous conflict. The Fritz Lang movie adaptation had a mythic scale that would not be challenged -- "The Shape of Things to Come" aside -- for decades to come. New appreciation for the complexities of the film are presented today (2010) as a fully restored version has been put together with the location of a complete film from an archive in Argentina. The influence of Metropolis can still be seen today as it presented a dark vision of society in cities, a major influence on dystopian films of today such as Blade Runner. 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. Item #15762
SPIES...
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. Item #23153
DESTINATION MOON ...
Boston: Gregg Press, 1979. Octavo, cloth. First edition. Includes Heinlein's novelette, "Destination Moon," his essay on the making of the George Pal film, reproduction of a 24-page illustrated promotional booklet, Facts About Destination Moon, and 13 full-page stills. Item #17089
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, n.d. Octavo, cloth. Later printing. Photoplay edition, with stills from the 1925 Lon Chaney/Universal Pictures film version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Two of the Andre Castaigne illustrations from the first edition are in this volume. Item #11638
KING KONG.
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, [1932]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 1-249 [250: ad], original lime green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black, top edge stained black, pictorial endpapers. First edition. Novelization of the 1933 RKO feature film based on the work of Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper. Illustrated with stills from the motion picture at the end papers. Item #13739
STAR WARS: FROM THE ADVENTURES OF LUKE SKYWALKER.
New York: A Del Rey Book/Ballantine Books, [1977]. Octavo, cloth. First trade hardcover edition. Preceded by the Ballantine paperback original published in 1976, and the Science Fiction Book Club edition hardcover. Novelization of the feature film directed by George Lucas. With photos from the motion picture. Item #8618
SEVEN FOOTPRINTS TO SATAN.
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, n.d. [c.1929]. Octavo, cloth. Later printing. Photoplay edition with eight stills from the 1929 motion picture, once a 'lost picture", a print now survives, but with no soundtrack. Copyright page is the information from the Boni & Liveright editions, no statement of Grosset printing (though stated third Boni & Liveright edition, this is does not pertain to this edition as a Boni & Liveright third printing exists). Item #10359
SEVEN FOOTPRINTS TO SATAN.
New York: Grosset & Dunlap, n.d. [c.1929]. Octavo, cloth. Later printing. Photoplay edition with eight stills from the 1929 motion picture, once a "lost picture", a print now survives, but with no soundtrack. Copyright page is the information from the Boni & Liveright editions, no statement of Grosset printing (though stated third Boni & Liveright edition, this is does not pertain to this edition as a Boni & Liveright third printing exists, this edition most likely used the plates from the last Boni edition). Item #11726
THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE: AND OTHER TALES OF HORROR (Photoplay edition).
New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, n.d. [c.1932]. Octavo, cloth. Later edition. Photoplay edition which includes six stills and end papers which are stills from the Universal motion picture starring Bela Lugosi, based on the title story from the Poe collection of fiction. Item #10227
FRANKENSTEIN OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS ... ON THIS FAMOUS STORY UNIVERSAL HAVE BASED A FILM STARRING COLIN CLIVE, BORIS KARLOFF, FREDERICK KERR AND MAE CLARKE.
London: The Readers Library Publishing Company Ltd., n.d., [1931]. Small octavo, pp. [1-7] 8-252 [253-254: ads] [255-256: blank] [note: first and last leaves used as front and rear paste-downs], original maroon boards with gold lettering and decorative motif on front and spine panels. First printing of this British film tie-in edition. Movie tie-in edition with photograph of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster from the 1931 Universal film directed by James Whale printed on the front panel of the jacket. This was number 364 of the Readers Library, a series of cheap books which were sold in chain stores like Woolworth as well as book stores. Item #23137
METROPOLIS.
London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., n.d. [circa 1935]. Octavo, pp. [1-12] 13-250 [251: blank] [252: printer's imprint] [253-256: blank] [note: first and last leaves used as front and rear paste-downs], four inserted plates reproducing stills based on the film, original red boards, front panel stamped in black and ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in black. First illustrated British edition. Reissue utilizing the plates of the 1927 Readers Library Publishing Company edition. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-23; (1981) 2-112; (1987) 2-123 and (1995) 2-132. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 1040. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 104. Survey of Science Fiction Literature III, pp. 1383-86. Bleiler (1978), p. 93. Reginald 14733. Item #13379