Welles, Orson

Mr. Arkadin with: Ephemera

New York, NY, USA: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1956. First American Edition. Hardcover. "Whether acting in Shakespeare, sawing a woman in half, or frightening a radio audience into thinking the Martians have landed, Orson Welles always gives a virtuoso performance. Now he does so again in a new medium, a spellbinding suspense novel set in postwar Europe. The fabulous Mr. Arkadin, tremendously powerful, unbelievably wealthy, with a finger in many an international pie, was a looming figure of mystery, unknown to the world. His own personal secret was that he himself didn't know who he was...Mr. Welles says that he wrote Mr. Arkadin in a "Third Man" mood. His book, like Graham Greene's, stemmed from the script of a motion picture, Confidential Report, made in France, which Welles produced, directed and starred in." (from front flap) A novel written (or perhaps credited to, see below) by Orson Welles (1915-1985), the Gargantuan American filmmaker, among the foremost, most influential cinematic & cultural figures of the twentieth century-&-beyond. Based upon the elusive, villainous character Harry Lime played by Welles in Graham Greene's The Third Man screenplay/film (a menacing Noir classic most-highly recommended by this writer), with we believe some echoing of Welles' canonical Citizen Kane, this novel followed & was meant to promote the film of the same title first released the previous year as Confidential Report. In an interview with his protege/acolyte the American director Peter Bogdanovich, Welles claimed that he was not this book's author & that he had neither written nor read a word of it. Wellesian legend has it that it was entirely penned by the acclaimed French author Maurice Bessy (1910-1993), who supposedly only translated it into French for an edition there, based on Welles' screenplay. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first American edition, first printing though neither specified at copyright page. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), a renowned American poet, editor, critical film writer & academician here at the University of Michigan. We found & have retained, between rear endpaper & paste-down, a torn scrap of paper folded once vertically with fragment of printed critical writing at recto & this statement, cursively hand-written by Goldstein in black ink at verso: "Ghostwritten by Maurice Berry./ based on a version of W(elles)'s film/ script, in English" A mysterious, enigmatic (as was the film, fitfully released in many versions & lengths in his exemplary fashion) Welles collectible in one of its rarest contemporary forms, with relevant ephemera & distinguished provenance. Book in relatively quite near-fine-to-fine condition with light rubbing to front, back covers & spine (yellow letters at spine appear bright & intact); mostly mild wear & a few bumps, creases at edges & corners of same incl. slight loss of surface paper esp. at spine edges/corners; one mostly faint crease across length of spine most-visible near/from edges; mild rubbing, age-toning to edges of text block. Interior near-fine-to-fine with mild-to-pronounced age-toning to blank paste-downs & endpapers; light age-toning, faint spotting to page leaves esp. at blank margins/edges; tiny bumps, very small creases at corners of a few page leaves. Dust jacket fine with light rubbing, faint scratching & age-toning to front, back covers, spine & flaps; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same esp. spine-edges, corners with very slight loss of surface paper. Ephemera fine-to-very-fine folded once as described above, with torn lower edge. Near Fine- Fine / Fine. [Item #8673]

Price: $75.00