July 2021 Catalogue

65 S c i e n c e One Of Only 327 Copies Signed By The Author And Thomas Edison, A Rare Association Copy From The Personal Collection Of Famed Cinema Bibliophile Spencer Berger 70. (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, Japanese patterned paper boards, two custom chemises together in a clamshell box. $10,500. Click for more info Signed limited first edition of one of the most important histories of cinema, one of only 327 sets signed by Ramsaye and Thomas Edison, with over 100 illustrations, a splendid copy. An exceptional association copy containing a laid-in typed letter by award-winning film scholar and author Dr. Donald Crafton, this rare copy a gift to him from “film aficionado and collector… Spencer Berger.” Terry Ramsaye spent five years researching this landmark two-volume film history. Much of the first volume is devoted to Thomas Edison, specifically his “kinetograph” camera and “Black Maria,” the structure he designed to rotate in alignment with the sun. Ramsaye then examines the impact of innovators such as Muybridge, Edwin S. Porter, Méliès and Griffith, continuing on through contemporaries such as David O. Selznick and Charlie Chaplin. This copy contains a laid-in typed letter signed by Donald Crafton on letterhead of the University of Notre Dame. Awarded the Society of Cinema and Media Studies Distinguished Career Achievement Award, Crafton was Notre Dame’s “first endowed professor in film studies.” In the letter, he notes that this copy “was given to me as a gift frommy friend, film aficionado and collector… Spencer Berger.” 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.