PICTURE - INSCRIBED BY JOHN HUSTON
by Ross, Lillian
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Stephenson, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1953. First UK Edition. A cornerstone work of film journalism, originally conceived by Ross as a series of articles she wrote for The New Yorker on the production of John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage (1951). "She takes one picture...from the time the property was acquired through every step until its release. All of Hollywood thus passes in review - John Huston, Audie Murphy, Mayer, Gottfried Reinhardt, the columnists, the agents, the cutters - all the vast pageant that Hollywood affords" (from front flap). The filming and post-production were fraught with difficulty; Huston considered the 2-hour cut of the film to be the best he had made as a director, which MGM had cut down to a 69-minute version, reducing Huston's masterpiece from epic status to a second-rate B picture. While the inscription to Baxter is undated, this was likely inscribed for him in London in 1980, where Huston was staying temporarily while publicizing his memoir An Open Book. Baxter would write at length about the encounter for the film blog Film Alert 101 ("From 'the darkened house of his memory' - John Baxter recalls an encounter with John Huston." 13 July, 2019). A definitive work on the filmmaking process, and the only copy inscribed by Huston we have seen. First Impression. Octavo (22cm); red paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [7],8-240pp. Inscribed on the title page to Australian writer, journalist, and film-maker John Baxter: "To John Baxter - and its all true - John Huston." Mild wear to spine ends, gentle sunning to upper board edges, with faint dust-soil to upper edge of textblock, tiny rubber-stamp to rear pastedown, and some scattered foxing and staining to text edges, preliminary, and terminal leaves; Very Good and sound. Dustjacket is price-clipped, spine-sunned and edgeworn, with scattered staining, several shallow losses, a few closed tears and splits, pronounced creasing along upper edge, and evidence of old cello-tape removed from edges on verso (with some resulting bleed-through); Good.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Captain Ahab's Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 4671
- Title
- PICTURE - INSCRIBED BY JOHN HUSTON
- Author
- Ross, Lillian
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First UK Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Victor Gollancz Ltd
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1953
Terms of Sale
Captain Ahab's Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Captain Ahab's Rare Books
Biblio member since 2010
Stephenson, Virginia
About Captain Ahab's Rare Books
Founded in 2010, Captain Ahab's Rare Books specializes in first editions of literature, genre fiction, film-related books and ephemera, zines, manuscript and archival material.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...