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Auction History Result 7a0073 BLACKMAIL English hardcover book 1929 w/ images from first British talkie, Alfred Hitchcock! Date Sold 8/4/2024 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. A Vintage English Hardcover Book (measures 4 1/4" x 6 3/4" [11 x 17 cm]; 190 pages) (Learn More) Blackmail, the 1929 Alfred Hitchcock English romantic murder blackmail thriller ("The Powerful Talking Picture"; "A Romance of Scotland Yard"; "The first British talkie"; "Mystery, Drama, Suspense, Action."; "See & hear it"; "From Charles Bennett's famous stage play"; "Britain's all-talking challenge to the world"; about a woman who kills a man in self defense, but another man who witnessed the murder blackmails her, and her lover is the detective who is investigating the case, and the blackmailer dies, falling through the glass dome at the top of the British Museum; at the end, the girl, not knowing the blackmailer has died, goes to Scotland Yard to confess, but just before she can, she learns of his death, and she and her detective lover are free to leave!) starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, Donald Calthrop, Cyril Ritchard, Sara Allgood, and Charles Paton. Note that this was originally intended to be a silent movie, but after the massive success of The Jazz Singer, it was decided that parts of this would be given sound. Apparently, Hitchcock thought this ridiculous and had the entire movie filmed in sound, making it England's first all-talking movie. Also, star Anny Ondra had a very thick accent, so Hitchcock hired another actress to speak her lines as Ondra mouthed the words, so her part was in effect "dubbed", even though it was not in the modern sense, where a different voice is added post production (that technology did not exist in 1929). NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. Important Added Info: Note that we previously auctioned one example of this English hardcover book, and it sold for $466 in "good" condition! Note that this is the Readers Library Publishing Company Ltd. photoplay edition in its original dust jacket. This company (like Grosset & Dunlap) was an English publisher that made a deal with some studios to publish "movie edition" hardcovers of novels that were currently adapted into movies. They would republish the original novel as the movie came out (or soon after), and they would put a dust jacket on the book that showed the stars of the movie, and they would include eight pages of images from the movie scattered in the book. These books were incredibly popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Note that we have pictured the front cover, the title page, and the interior page that shows the publishing information, and one or more interior 2-page spreads. Because we know that the dust jacket is an important part of the value of this book, we also pictured the entire dust jacket opened up. Between that image and our other images, you should be able to get a good sense of the overall condition of this book. Condition: good to very good. The dust jacket (which is in a protective plastic sleeve) has paper loss at the top and bottom of the spine and a few small other bits of paper loss in the bottom of the jacket. The book itself is in pretty nice condition. See our many images to get a good sense of the exact condition of this rare book. Learn More about condition grades 
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