The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille.

DEMILLE, Cecil B.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 130481

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1959.

First edition of the autobiography of the legendary director. Octavo, original cloth. Note written on stationary from Hotel Pierre, New York, from Cecil B. De Mille to Barrett Kiesling, MGM Publicity Directory, dated June 21, 1931, laid-in, includes De Mille’s signature. Two notes to Kiesling from Cecilia De Mille Harper (daughter of the famous director and an actress) also laid in, with her signature. Typed letter on Paramount Pictures Corporation letterhead from Cecil B. DeMille to Barrett C. Kiesling, with signature, affixed to the back pastedown (letter mentions Kiesling’s help in writing the autobiography), dated May 14, 1958. Minor underlining on pages 249 and 260, where Kiesling is mentioned by name. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Yousuf Karsh. Edited by Donald Hayne. Rare and desirable signed and with noted provenance.

Cecil B. DeMille film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants.