Waviana in the Book Trade

A Baltimore dealer has on offer an original Hollywood film script of Waugh’s 1948 novel  The Loved One as written by Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood. This is Royal Books on 25th St. This is a July 1964 draft of a script for the film released in 1965 and is described on the ABAA internet page:

Deluxe working script belonging to uncredited crew member William Todd Mason, with his name and phone number in holograph ink on the title page, and some brief penciled notations on three pages…An early draft, issued nearly two years prior to the film’s October 1965 release, with substantial differences from the finished film.The sister film to “Dr. Strangelove,” and in the eyes of many, just as much a masterpiece of exquisitely wrought black humor. Made in the US, but in a dense, British-American style. Ostensibly a satire on the funeral business, in which a young British poet winds up in a Hollywood cemetery as part of an inheritance arrangement–but in reality a satire of Hollywood itself, as well as the Western malaise of the mid 1960s.

Also on offer by the same dealer is a photo of scriptwriter Southern discussing the script with actor John Gielgud who played Sir Francis Hinsley in the film. This is a promotional photo with information about the film provided by the studio mimeographed on the back. The phot0 is listed at $650 and the script at $4500.

In other book news, Cambridge University Library Special Collections has posted an article about Victorian artist-architect William Burges. This relates to the design and construction of his residence in Kensington known as Tower House and is based on the book entitled The House of William Burges. The book is a collection of detailed descriptions and plates relating to Tower House. It was published in 1885 after Burges’ death, with a text by Richard Pullan, one of his former associates. The library’s copy of the lavishly illustrated book was formerly in the collection of Evelyn Waugh and was acquired by the library in 2016 from Maggs Bros. How it escaped the clutches of the University of Texas which acquired Waugh’s entire library after his death is not explained. Perhaps Waugh sold it before his death or UT decided uncharacteristically to deaccession it.

Share
This entry was posted in Academia, Adaptations, Bibliophilia, Film, Items for Sale, The Loved One and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.