Best Copy In The World from Royal Books, Inc.

Manchester: Factory Records, 1988. First Edition. FAC 235. First Edition. Issued privately by The Hacienda Club in Manchester to friends of the establishment, as their 1988 Christmas gift. Flip-book (or "manual video") illustrated by avant-garde filmmaker and conceptualist Robert Breer and photographer Wiliam Wegman, bound such that the book slants to the left to enable easy flipping. The brightly… Read more about this item

London: 4AD, 1989. Three early never-issued alternate artwork proof designs for the classic 1989 album. Developed by British graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, with photography by Simon Larbalestier. Unique. In 1980, Oliver and photographer Nigel Grierson formed the graphic design partnership 23 Envelope. In 1982 the duo were invited to create sleeve art for the 4AD record label by… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1973. Archive of material from the 1973 film belonging to producer-director Philip D'Antoni, including several draft treatments for scenes in the film, handwritten shooting schedules and filming notes, crew memos regarding filming and location scouting, cost reports on Twentieth Century-Fox letterhead, a German film pressbook, location shooting maps, a reference photograph of D'Antoni mapping out the film's… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1980. Archive of material belonging to director George Roy Hill, including an AFI Award for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a brass plaque dated May 22, 1976 declaring Hill an Honorary Lugan of Johnstown, one alumni achievement award dated 1985 and presented to Hill from The Blake School, and an International Award from the Academie du… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1982. Vintage album with approximately 300 reference photographs, a mix of black-and-white and color, from the 1982 horror film. Included with the album are four contact sheets (presenting approximately 120 images), one loose black-and-white reference photograph, and four negative strips housed in individual sleeves, all housed in a photography developer envelope. Single manuscript ink annotation on the… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1921. Archive of 41 autograph letters from early silent film actor William S. Hart to his fiancée, actress Jane Novak, written on Hart's personal letterhead and dated between May 4 and 26, 1921. Included with the letters are their original mailing envelopes (addressed to Novak's residence at the Biltmore in New York) as well as typescript transcriptions… Read more about this item

Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers / Seven Arts, 1968. Vintage concept artwork for the 1968 film. A striking two-color op-art design by uncredited artist Norbert Jobst, who had previously worked in title design for the 1967 film "Games." The dimensions of the artwork suggests it was designed for a pressbook or film program. Mounted and laminated, and stamped with a… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1983. Vintage Hüsker Dü setlist, executed in manuscript ink by guitarist Bob Mould, from the June 16, 1982 show at San Francisco's On Broadway Theatre, with a corresponding manuscript ink annotation of "OB 6-16-82" on the lower right corner of the verso. Full provenance available. The setlist features 20 songs from "Land Speed Record" (1982), "In… Read more about this item

New York: Arista Records, 1978. Vintage tape recording of a 1978 anti-drug public service announcement by noted soul and jazz musician-poet Gil Scott-Heron. Included with the tape is an audio CD and MP3 file of same. The recording features Scott-Heron narrating both 15 second and 30 second radio spots about the dangers of PCP use over clips… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1981. Original oversize treated photograph used as the shooting artwork for the 1981 album. Hinged with a mylar cover and outer cropping labels, as originally constructed. Full provenance available. Composed primarily of outtake material from past recording sessions, the album was a surprise commercial hit for Emmylou Harris, certified Gold in less than… Read more about this item

Los Angeles: Warner Brothers Records, 1970. Original photographic artwork assemblage for Van Morrison's classic 1970 album, , with original double exposure photograph by David Gahr, designed by Janet Planet and used by Warner Brothers Records as shooting artwork for the album cover. Production annotations, in manuscript marker and pencil, at bottom of board below the image. Annotations on… Read more about this item

New York: Columbia Records, 1991. Original matte finish photograph of Bob Dylan by photographer Don Hunstein, shot circa 1960, struck for the first time in 1991 for use as shooting artwork on the cover of the 1991 box set. To our knowledge, the only print struck from the negative. The image of Dylan in the photograph on offer… Read more about this item

New York: RKO Radio Pictures, 1940. Revised Draft script for the 1940 film noir, generally considered to be the first in the American film noir cycle. An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a cafe owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself. Widely… Read more about this item

New York: Lenox Hill Press, 1971. First Edition. First Edition. INSCRIBED playfully by the author on the verso of the half-title page: "To Mark Reinsberg / the hombre from the capital of incontinence-that is, existentially / My best regards for authoritarianism. / Chas. Willeford / 19 Nov '71." After an early career in paperback originals, Willeford's second… Read more about this item

(Los Angeles): N.p., 1981. First draft manuscript for the 1984 novel, dated 1981, and here under the working title "L.A. Death Trip." INSCRIBED by Ellroy on one of two title pages (with another unused title, "Because the Night," crossed out), in which the author identifies this typed manuscript as a "precursor" draft to "Blood on the Moon" and specifies… Read more about this item

N.p.: N.p., 1932. Archive of six extraordinary Autograph Letters Signed, including five in French and one in English, by the pioneering film director Georges Méliès, revealing a great deal about his little-discussed but profoundly important origins in the Robert-Houdin Theatre in Paris, as well as his work as a magician and ultimately a film director. Equally interesting… Read more about this item

New York: Covici-Friede, 1935. First edition, second issue of Odet's first book, containing his first three plays, "Awake and Sing!," "Waiting for Lefty," and "Till the Day I Die," all of which were written for and premiered by the Group Theatre in the first half of 1935. Copy belonging to Emanuel "Manny" Fried, an understudy to Group… Read more about this item

New York: Edward J. Clode, 1927. First Edition. First Edition. In the first state dust jacket, priced $2.00 and with a blurb for this title on the front flap and an advertisement for Richard H. Watkin's "Half a Clue" on the rear flap. From the collection of Otto Penzler. In the early days of the seminal… Read more about this item

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968. First Edition. First Edition. Copy belonging to director Joseph Losey, with his name and home address written in manuscript ink on the first leaf: "Joseph Losey / Hanover, NH / '70." Additional underlining and bracketing throughout, in the same fountain pen ink as the inscription, mostly to the opening chapters of the text. … Read more about this item

Tokyo: Toho Company, 1966. Draft script for the 1966 film. Text in Japanese. A pornographer is keeping a low profile to keep out of the way of the mob, while also is trying to keep the various people in his life happy, including his stepdaughter, stepson, mistress, and wife (who believes her first husband was reincarnated as… Read more about this item