Search Results: Archives from Royal Books, Inc.

Ottawa: Crawley Films Limited, 1966. Archive of press material and photographs for the 1963 Canadian film, and for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the production company, Crawley Films. F.R. "Budge" Crawley was Canada's answer to Hollywood's Sam Goldwyn, and he produced hundreds of films during his 40-year career, including the Academy Award-winning 1975 documentary, "The Man Who Skied Down Everest." "Budge" and his wife Judith founded Crawley Films in 1938 and won the first Canadian film award in 1950. Crawley has been referred to as "the Godfather of Canadian cinema," and rightfully so. Included in the archive are 27 film still photographs with mimeo snipes affixed to the versos (several on-the-set images and a few with director Bonniere); a folder containing 25 letters ("to salute 25 Years") from various French, American, British and Canadian film and government associations (including former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, and Eric Johnston, president of the Motion… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1951. Archive of three draft scripts from the 1951 television film, which originally aired on February 26 on CBS as part of the Studio One anthology series. Screenplays belonging to production manager Mickey Delamar, one with his manuscript ink annotations throughout. Delamar worked as a producer, production manager, and assistant director on over 30 films, with a career spanning four decades. His credits include Julien Duvivier's "Anna Karenina" (1948), Francois Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451" (1966), and Terence Young's "Mayerling" (1968). Based on the 1903 novel by Henry James, about an older American sent to France to rescue his wealthy, widowed fiancee's son from a supposedly corrupt Parisian lifestyle. Shot on location in New York. First script: Blue titled wrappers, noted as copy No. 4, undated, with credits for novelist Henry James and screenwriter Lois Jacoby. Title page integral with the front wrapper, as issued. 152 leaves, with last page of text numbered 161. Mimeograph… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1964. Archive of 12 vintage vernacular photographs of a tractor pull at the Boone County Fair in Indianapolis, circa 1964. Tractor pulls became popular in the Midwest in the 1950s and 1960s, and endure to this day. Pulls generally consisted of tractors in varying weight classes competing in towing a drag, which was either composed of dead weight or, as indicated in many of the photographs, a group of people stepping onto a sled at fixed positions in order to increase resistance as the pull continued. Farm equipment companies would often sponsor displays of their newest machines at the events, allowing farmers and their families a chance to examine the items up close and, during the pulls themselves, witness the machines' raw power. Included in the archive are several photographs of Carmel, IN dealership Riley Brothers' display of the Oliver 1800 tractor, released as part of Oliver's four-digit model series after the company's acquisition by White Motor Corporation in 1960.… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1954. Archive of 15 photographs documenting the deconstruction, transportation, and reconstruction of the Heinz House during 1952-1954, after it was purchased by the Henry Ford Museum and added to museum's Greenfield Village. Twelve of the photographs with the stamp of the Henry Ford Museum on the verso, the remaining three with the stamp of the Heinz Company. Additionally, ten photographs with either manuscript or printed captions on the verso detailing the image. Henry J. Heinz founded what would eventually grow into the world's fifth largest food company in 1869 in the basement of his childhood home in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. That house would first be moved from its original location to Pittsburgh in 1904, and a single photograph in the archive shows it in the process of being assembled in its new location. Opened to the public in 1933, the Henry Ford Museum's Greenfield Village serves as a living museum with historical buildings moved there from all over the United States in an… Read More

Loudonville, OH: The Flxible Company, 1954. Archive of 22 vintage photographs of the Flxible Land Cruiser motorhome, circa 1954. Of the 22 photographs in the collection, 17 bear stamps on the versos, six bear annotations noting serial number and descriptions, and eleven bear stamps noting the serial number, model, and company. The collection includes one photograph of the exterior of the motorhome and 21 photographs of the very mid-century modern interior, frequently with models in various positions demonstrating the vehicle's comfort and luxury. Eight of the photographs note a serial number beginning with "B53" and one photograph notes a serial number beginning with "B54," likely indicating production in 1953 and 1954. Founded in 1913 in Loudonville, Ohio, Flxible was a manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars, funeral cars, ambulances, intercity coaches, and transit buses. In 1948 Flxible introduced its Land Cruiser model, a standard 29 passenger Clipper shell with an elaborately furnished interior,… Read More

Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], 1970. Archive of five vintage screenplays and scripts belonging to novelist and poet Robert Nathan. Included in the archive are: one Draft script for an unproduced film titled "Red Shoes Run Faster," one script for an unproduced play titled "The Ice Maiden," one early treatment script for an unproduced film adaptation of Nathan's novel "Mr. Whittle and the Morning Star" (here under the working title "Mr. Whittle's Apocalypse"), one Draft script for an unproduced script titled "The Fundamentalist," and one Draft script for an unproduced film adaptation of Nathan's novel "So Love Returns." Three scripts with manuscript pencil annotations, ostensibly made by Nathan, and one with a single copied manuscript annotation. Born in New York, Robert Nathan attended Harvard briefly, beginning in 1912, before choosing to drop out and take an advertising job to support his family. In 1919 Nathan wrote his first novel, the semi-autobiographical "Peter Kindred," and… Read More

New York: International Projector Corporation, 1931. Archive consisting of an original sales brochure and eleven photographs for portable Acme-Simplex 35mm film projectors, from 1931. The Simplex projector line was one of the most popular US brands from the silent era until the transition to digital projection in the 1990s. Portable projectors were available in both silent and sound formats, and in the 1930s were still marketed primarily as an educational tool for institutional use, for schools, prisons, hospitals, churches, travel agencies, and the like. Projector technology would rapidly accelerate throughout the ensuing decades, reaching a peak in the postwar period, when personal projector use would hit an all-time high. Included in the archive is a 22 page sales brochure, photo-illustrated throughout, containing in-depth descriptions of the projectors offered for sale by International Projector Corporation in 1931, as well as several pages describing the projectors' utility in a variety of… Read More

San Francisco: N.p., 1915. Archive of five vintage oversize photographs of San Francisco, circa 1909-1915, relating variously to Portola Week, the U.S.S. South Dakota battleship, the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and the opening of the Panama Canal. Manuscript captions on the rectos of each. Portola Week was a five-day festival that originated in 1909, in honor of Spanish explorer Don Gaspar de Portola's expedition to the San Francisco Bay in 1769. The festival featured parades, fireworks, and lighted floats, led by a man dressed as Portola, accompanied by dragoons, that processed from the Golden Gate to Pier 2. The festival took place a second time in 1913, and then not until 1948, when it was revived by a local civic club. The collection on offer here includes a photograph captioned "the king and queen of our last celebration," ostensibly taken during the first Portola Week in 1909. The Panama-Pacific Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco from February 20 to December 4, 1915. The… Read More

Baltimore: N.p., 1951. Archive of six vintage black and white photographs of students at Druid Junior High School 137 in Baltimore, including five showing students gathered in the music classroom, and one showing what appears to be a Christmas nativity recital. Four photographs dated variously between 1949 and 1951 in manuscript ink annotation to the bottom margin, and two photographs undated, with no annotations. The photographs broadly document young African American students cheerfully posing with various instruments, and three show an older man who appears to be the class music teacher standing to the far left. Three photographs 10 x 8 inches, one photograph 10 x 7.5 inches, one photograph 10 x 7 inches, and one photograph 7 x 5 inches. Generally Very Good, with moderate creasing, edgewear, and fading throughout.

N.p.: N.p., 1997. Archive of 22 pieces of correspondence between writer Larry Gelbart and director Robert Parrish, consisting of nine typescripts, six of which are INSCRIBED, plus three autographed letters signed, one typed letter signed, and six autographed notes from Gelbart to Parrish, as well as three outgoing carbons of letters written from Parrish to Gelbart and a seven-page typescript of Parrish's essay "Beverly Hills Breakfast Briefing." Gelbart, known primarily for having written "Tootsie" (1982) and for creating the television show "MASH," maintained a close friendship with "Casino Royale" director Robert Parrish and his wife Kathleen, as seen here via nearly 20 years of kind correspondence that touches upon the two men's writings, careers, and family lives. An uncommonly charming and frequently hilarious documentation of a film industry relationship. Typescript, photocopy, and manuscript. Variously bound: loose leaves, corner-stapled, three typescripts have two gold brads, and one is… Read More

Wrigley, TN: N.p., 1990. Archive of over 175 photographs relating to the Wrigley, Tennessee, chapter of the Rare Blood Motorcycle club, a predominantly African American motorcycle club, with at least nine other (largely African American) motorcycle clubs identified in the photographs. 175 photographs are housed in a generic maroon three-ring photograph album, with each photograph affixed to adhesive leaves with plastic overlays. Nine additional photographs are laid in, including an 8 x 12 enlargement of a photograph found in the album. Much of the archive documents gatherings at the group's clubhouse and offers an unfiltered and intimate look inside a southern working-class African American subculture. A handful of photographs include personal photographs of family and friends associated with the organization and the unknown compilers. Although documentation is sparse, the Rare Blood Motorcycle Club appears to have been founded in Franklin, Ohio, in the 1980's, with that chapter filing as a… Read More

Los Angeles: N.p., 1935. Archive of material regarding a pair of prospective African American child actors, including four black and white photographs of the children, four autograph letters signed from a "Madame Fay," variously addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Smith and an unnamed "Mr. Agent," and one typescript letter, unsigned (but seemingly from one of the Smiths), responding to Fay's previous correspondence. Two photographs with the stamp of Adair's Studio at 4105 Central Avenue on the verso. Fay's letters, which identify the children as twins, broadly discuss her hopes of securing acting representation for the twins, facilitated by the Smiths, who seem to have had some connections within the film industry. The letters also frankly address Fay's financial hardships, noting, "I don't expect much for myself in the start buy if I only know that I have a Dependance I will feel safer. I don't think I shall ever be able to go into any ones kitchen and the lisence is so high for readings that unless… Read More

Various American Cities: Various, 1970. First Edition. Archive of material relating to Lillian Gish's 1969 memoir "The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me," including author Lillian Gish's Olivetti Lettera 22 portable typewriter used to type the manuscript for the book, as well as two manuscripts for the book: one typescript with editorial annotations in manuscript pencil throughout, and one mimeographed copy. The archive also includes a First Edition copy of the book, with the bookplate of actor and producer Frank Buxton affixed to the front pastedown. Bookplate signed by Gish, and laid in with the book is a warm manuscript note from Gish. Also included in the archive are several scripts for Gish's one-woman touring show "Lillian Gish and the Movies-The Art of Film 1900-1928," housed in two binders, circa 1973. One binder holds two copies of the same script (one carbon typescript and one xerographically duplicated) dated 1973, with a note at the front indicating the script as the personal property of… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1940. Archive of 99 vintage photographs documenting a mine sealing project in and around Kempton Mine in Kempton, Maryland. Likely taken at the behest of the Kempton Mine Company, the photographs are housed in an album, with captions detailing the nature of the work shown, location, and date. Photographs date between February, 1938, and April, 1940, and are arranged in groupings according to location, each usually followed by an abbreviated location signifier and a description of the work done. Detailed inventory available upon request. Archive presents many views of the work involved in the large-scale project, including masonry stopping, traps, and seals; clearing, cleaning, and loading fall; gob cleanup and seals; excavation and paving of creek beds; bridge construction; earth packing; drainage ditch digging; and timber setting and wall construction, among others. Archive also includes a map and an introductory photograph showing an overview of the mine and mining plant.… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1978. Archive of approximately 200 original blueprints of set plans, schematics, and designs, as well as photographs, drawings, notations, and newspaper and magazine clippings, for various Broadway and off-Broadway productions, Metropolitan Opera productions, film and television productions, as well as various ballet companies (including the National Ballet Company), mounted on 62 oversize art boards, 1943-1978. Detailed inventory available upon request. An expansive archive of sets and schematics blueprints for over 30 various productions, from 1943 to 1978, all mounted on the rectos and versos of 62 oversize artboards, the majority of which contain 1-6 blueprints per panel (side). Included in the archive are 59 panels of blueprints for 16 Broadway and off-Broadway productions (1943-1978), 36 panels for four Metropolitan Opera productions (1963-1967), as well as layout plans for the MET at Lincoln Center from 1965 (the year before it premiered), twelve panels for three film productions… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1930. Archive of six double weight, borderless photographs of the Ethan Allen Creamery in Essex Junction, VT, circa 1930s. The photographs contain images of both the creamery buildings and interior of the facilities, including the vats used to pasteurize milk, at what the creamery's sign claims is "Vermont's most modern and sanitary milk plant." Photographs roughly 9.75 x 7.75 inches. Fine. Tipped onto linen on the left edge and bound with a string. Housed in a contemporary card folder, with a vintage photography studio label to the rear pastedown.

Portland, OR: N.p., 1978. Archive of 63 vernacular color photographs of the scene of the crash of commercial United Airlines Flight 173 that occurred on December 28, 1978 in suburban Portland, Oregon. Five photographs are shown. To see a watermarked set of the entire collection, please inquire. Likely shot by an investigator or airline employee, the photographs in this archive depict a comprehensive survey of the scene of the crash, including images of the plane's fuselage, the severed wings, and the surrounding area. The flight, from JFK in New York en route to Portland, experienced a malfunction in the deployment of its landing gear, and the plane circled the airport seeking a solution until it ran out of fuel and crashed, killing ten passengers and injuring another 24. Considered a landmark moment in the history of safety regulations in American commercial aviation, including spurring the creation of the Crew Resource Management training course, which sought to mitigate the effects of human… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1980. Archive of 133 vernacular photographs from an custom automotive upholstery shop, the "Auto Seat Cover Co.," located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, housed in acrylic photo sleeves in a photo album, circa 1961-1983. The vast majority of the photographs in the archive appear to be from the 1970s, and are predominately before and after photographs, and ornate custom automotive upholstery in acrylic, cloth, and leather, of contemporaneous vehicles as well as vehicles from the 1930s - 1950s. Also in the archive are six photographs of the company's trade show booth, circa late 1960s, four photographs of the interior of the business, circa early to mid 1960s, as well as five photographs of the flooding of the business, likely the Harrisburg flood of 1972, and three photographs of a home upholstery job, circa early 1970s. Five black and white photographs, which appear to be the earliest photographs in the archive, all have the date of "Nov 61' stamped onto the margin, and six photographs,… Read More

Various cities: Various. An archive of books and personal material belonging to Arline de Haas, noted author of the photoplay edition for the first talking film, "The Jazz Singer" (1927). Included is her leather-bound presentation copy of her novelization of the film, a work that caused a fundamental and multi-level shift in the world's conception of cinema and dramatic storytelling, as well as a copy of the book INSCRIBED by De Haas to her parents. The archive contains seven photoplay books written by De Haas (two of which are INSCRIBED to her parents), her copy of the Webster's New International Dictionary, paperwork relating to her estate, including the deed to her Pennsylvania estate, and a photograph, presumably of the author and her brother. The conception of the "The Jazz Singer" began in 1917 with playwright Samson Raphaelson, who saw popular stage performer Al Jolson, a Russian-born Jew, perform in blackface as part of a performance of "Robinson Crusoe" in Illinois. Raphaelson was taken… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1967. Archive of four double weight, color vernacular photographs taken at the Illumineer Lounge, an African American club or bar in Chicago, 1967. Each photograph with manuscript annotations on the verso identifying the location, date ("17 September 1967"), and occasion ("Leslie D. Kinnison Birthday Celebration"), along with the stamp of Blue Bird, Inc, a jukebox rental company. Also included in a business card and note belonging to Blue Bird employee Pat Patterson. Three photographs show Patterson, who is white, posing with what we presume to be one of Blue Bird's juke boxes, two with African American patrons of the bar, one with an African American woman identified as the bar's manager, Fran White. The fourth photograph is of a bartender, identified only as Pearl. One photograph 5 x 7 inches, the remaining three 3.5 x 3.5 inches. About Near Fine.