Osa Johnson Signed First Edition and Letter Collection. [Lion: African Adventures with the King of Beasts, Osa Johnson’s Jungle Friends, I Married Adventure: The Lives and Adventures of Martin and Osa Johnson, Four Years in Paradise, Bride in the Solomons, Last Adventure: The Martin Johnsons in Borneo.

JOHNSON, Osa and Martin.

Item Number: 140738

New York, Philadelphia, and Boston: Various Publishers, 1929-1966.

Fine collection of first editions and letters written and signed by Osa Johnson to her close friends Charles “Chic” and Marie Bishop Sale. Octavo, 6 volumes, original cloth. The collection includes: Lion: African Adventures with the King of Beasts [New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1929]. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free pictorial endpaper, “New York City March 1929 Sincere good wishes from Martin Johnson and Osa Johnson To our good friends Marie and Charley Sale”; Osa Johnson’s Jungle Friends [Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1939] First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “To my friend Dwight Sale. With lots of love, and best wishes. Aunt Osa”; I Married Adventure: The Lives and Adventures of Martin and Osa Johnson [Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1940]. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half title page, “To Marie with all my love. Osa Johnson”; Four Years in Paradise [Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1941]. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the free endpaper, “To my dear Marie in appreciation of our long dear friendship. Love, Osa – January 14 – 1942”; Bride in the Solomons [Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1944]. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author opposite the half-title page, “To Marie Sweety Sale Love, Osa Johnson”; Last Adventure: The Martin Johnsons in Borneo [William Morrow & Company, 1966]. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the mother of the author on the half-title page, “To my Dear Marie Sale, Love + Sept 28 1967 Best wished from Belle Leighty the Mother of Osa Johnson.” Each volume is in very good to near fine condition. Accompanied by an autograph letter signed by and entirely in the hand of Martin Johnson, a typed letter signed by Osa Johnson, several original photographs of Osa Johnson in Africa and the South Seas, and a letter of provenance signed by Cherry Sale Brown. The recipients of the letters and first editions, vaudeville performer and actor Chic and his wife Marie Bishop Sale were close friends of the Martin and Osa Johnson and kept in touch with them for many years. In her letter of provenance, their daughter Cherry Sale Brown recounts: “After having been away from civilization for months and sometimes years, Osa would immediately buy a complete wardrobe in the latest fashion, invariably precipitating some discord with her husband. But the Johnsons were a perfect team; neither could have lived without the other. Osa’s few years following Martin’s death were not happy ones. Their chief regret was that they had no children. We, the Sale children, were the closest ones to them.” The letters are in near fine condition. A very unique collection offering intimate insight into the lives of the great adventurers.

American adventurers and documentary filmmakers Osa Helen Johnson and Martin Elmer Johnson captured the public's imagination during the first half of the 20th century with their films and books of adventure in exotic, faraway lands. Photographers, explorers, marketers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa studied the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific Islands and British North Borneo. They explored then-unknown lands and brought back film footage and photographs, offering many Americans their first understanding of these distant lands. Osa Johnson's autobiography I Married Adventure was the best-selling non-fiction book of 1940.