Miller, Henry

Scenario (A Film with Sound)

Paris, France: Obelisk Press, 1937. Limited First Edition. Unbound Signatures in Wrappers. Signed by Henry Miller. "Night. A tropical garden filled with pebbled paths. In the center of the garden a small pond out of which rises a huge bowl filled with gleaming gold-fish. The heavy white face of Alraune hovers over the garden like a mask. The face grows larger and larger until it fills the screen. Her mouth is clouded with smoke which ascends in spiral curves. The eyes roll upward; they lave(sic) the fixed stare of a drug addict. They grow large, round, glassy, then troubled, then wild. They twitch like the eyes of a Javanese dancer. They grow calm and fixed again, dreamy, like the eyes of an opium smoker." (Part 1, first paragraph, pg. 9) A film scenario by Henry Miller (1891-1980), the great American author & artist whose earlier works inspired & influenced the Beat Generation. As Miller notes opposite colophon (pg. 7), "This scenario is directly inspired by a / phantasy called "The House of Incest", / written by Anais Nin (1903-1977, the famous diarist who was Miller's close friend & collaborator)." Loose, unbound signatures laid into wrappers, including loose fold-out frontispiece artwork by Abraham Rattner (1895-1978), the noted American artist—a dense, striking compliment to Miller's surreal & evocative text. One of 200 copies signed by Miller in grey fountain-pen ink at colophon, this is (stamped over lines) copy No. 141/200. A beautiful & delicate production of the Obelisk Press imprint, which also published Miller's Tropic series & other classics during his expatriate Parisian phase of the 1930s. With all points in Shifreen & Jackson, A13, pgs. 72-73, except for "clear wax paper jacket" (pg. 72) originally placed over wrappers, not present here. From the collection of Dr. Stanley Hurwick Levy (1926-2020), an esteemed American physician who met & conferred with Albert Einstein while a prodigious student at Princeton University during the 1940s, & was among the most legendarily prolific book collectors of them all, over many years. This writer was privileged to attend a presentation/tour conducted by Dr. Levy at his home some years ago, & was duly astonished by his vast & varied collection. A top-tier Miller collectible in its very rarest & substantially complete form including most-scarce frontispiece, with distinguished provenance. In relatively good-to-near-fine condition, altogether as much or better than we have seen, with mild-to-moderate rubbing, browning, faint scratching & occasional spotting, spot-staining to front, back covers, spine & flaps of wrappers; light-to-significant wear at edges & corners of same incl. closed tear from upper left corner through most of edge between spine & front cover; short, mostly closed tears & chips across all upper edges, corners with mild loss of paper; replacement-repair paper affixed at parts of same area & at/near lower spine-edge, corners; profuse creasing, a few closed horizontal tears, one small area of light-blue repair across spine. Interior near-fine with mild-to-moderate browning esp. at blank margins/edges of signature page leaves; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same. Frontispiece near-fine with light rubbing, browning to blank outer-verso panels, blank margin of recto illustration (which appears bright with thin line where folded); minor wear & some tiny bumps, creases & tiny chips with miniscule loss of paper at edges & corners. Good- Near Fine. [Item #6372]

Price: $600.00