Americana - 59 - Bauman Rare Books One Of Only 327 Copies Signed By The Author And Thomas Edison, A Desireable Association Copy From The Collection Of Famed Cinema Bibliophile Spencer Berger 55. (EDISON, Thomas Alva) RAMSAYE, Terry. A Million and One Nights. A History of the Motion Picture. New York, 1926. Two volumes. Thick octavo, original half brown pigskin and Japanese patterned paper boards, two custom chemises together in a clamshell box. $10,500. Signed limited first edition of one of the most important histories of cinema, one of only 327 sets signed by Ramsaye and Thomas Edison, an exceptional association copy containing a laid-in typed letter by award-winning film scholar Dr. Donald Crafton, this rare copy a gift to him from “film aficionado and collector… Spencer Berger.” With over 100 illustrations, a splendid copy in publisher’s leather and Japanese patterned paper boards. This memorable association copy contains a laid-in typed letter signed by Donald Crafton, who was the “first endowed professor in film studies at the University of Notre Dame.” In his letter Dr. Crafton writes in part: “This two-volume work has been deaccessioned from my personal library… It was given to me as a gift from my friend, film aficionado and collector, and businessman, Spencer Berger.” Berger “was a renowned expert on the Barrymore family… actors John, Lionel, and Ethel Barrymore.” Berger was so well known in Hollywood that in 1940, when Bette Davis was lobbying for John Barrymore in film adaptation of The Man Who Came to Dinner, she “took it upon herself to write Spencer Berger, the Barrymore family’s factotum,” noting: “this one would be excellent” for Barrymore. Copies are more frequently found in blue cloth; this copy is in the more deluxe original half pigskin with Japanese patterned paper boards. Interior pristine and beautiful, original leather and paper boards with a hint of rubbing, Volume II spine head with just a bit of loss, binding much nicer than usually found, near-fine.
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