Grand Hotel
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1930. Item #05819
“In Remembrance of the Lovely Sundays in Hollywood!”
Vicki Baum’s Grand Hotel Inscribed to Jean Hersholt
Who Played Senf, the Head Porter, in MGM’s Academy Award-Winning Film
With Hersholt’s Own Account of the Making of the Picture
BAUM, Vicki. Grand Hotel. London: Geoffrey Bles, [1930].
First edition in English of Vicki Baum's most famous novel. Octavo (7 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches; 184 x 124 mm.). [iv], 315, [1, blank] pp.
Publisher's pale blue cloth, front cover and spine lettered in black. Some light foxing to edges, not affecting the text. A fine, sharp copy. Housed in a felt-lined blue cloth clamshell case, spine lettered in gilt.
An exceptional presentation and film association copy, inscribed by Vicki Baum to Jean Hersholt, who would shortly appear as Senf, the head porter, in MGM's celebrated 1932 film adaptation of Grand Hotel. Baum has inscribed the half-title:
“Mr Jean Hersholt in Erinnerung an die schönen Sonntage in Hollywood! Vicki Baum”
[“To Mr. Jean Hersholt, in remembrance of the lovely Sundays in Hollywood!”]
The inscription is especially appealing in light of Hersholt's subsequent participation in the film adaptation of Baum's novel, transforming the volume into a direct link between the author, her Hollywood circle, and one of MGM's greatest productions.
Jean Hersholt has himself added a remarkable lengthy inscription on the front free endpaper, recording his participation in the film:
“‘Grand Hotel’. Vicki Baum's famous book was made into an equally famous picture. It was the first real ‘All Star’ film, with Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone and I in the leads. It was produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City during Jan-March 1932 and had its premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood April 29–1932.” Signed: “Jean Hersholt.”
This contemporary first-person annotation is a particularly desirable feature. Hersholt not only identifies his copy of Baum's novel with the film in which he appeared, but records the production dates, studio, celebrated ensemble cast and Hollywood premiere.
Hersholt's handsome pictorial “Ex Libris” bookplate, bearing his signature, is affixed to the front pastedown. The rear pastedown bears the label of the Hollywood Book Store.
Also preserved with the volume are two original black-and-white photographs of the cast of MGM's Grand Hotel, one affixed to the verso of the front free endpaper and another at the rear, further transforming the copy into a personal record of Hersholt's association with the picture.
Originally published in Germany in 1929 as Menschen im Hotel, Baum's novel became an international phenomenon. Its interwoven stories of guests and employees inhabiting a luxurious Berlin hotel proved ideally suited to both stage and screen and established Baum as an international literary celebrity.
MGM's 1932 adaptation, directed by Edmund Goulding, assembled one of the most extraordinary casts yet brought together for a motion picture: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt. Hersholt portrayed Senf, the hotel's head porter, anxiously awaiting news of the birth of his child.
The picture became one of the defining productions of MGM's golden age and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its ensemble structure also helped establish the template for the multi-star Hollywood production - precisely the characteristic Hersholt himself emphasizes in his inscription when he calls it the first real “All Star” film.
The association represented by this copy is therefore unusually complete.
Baum presents her novel to a friend within her Hollywood circle; that recipient subsequently becomes a member of the cast of its legendary screen adaptation; Hersholt then records the making and premiere of that film in the very copy Baum had given him and preserves photographs of himself with his fellow cast members within its pages.
Jean Hersholt (1886–1956), Danish-born actor and humanitarian, appeared in more than a hundred films during a career extending from the silent era into television and radio. Beyond his acting career, his extraordinary charitable work on behalf of the motion-picture community was commemorated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, first presented in 1957 and remaining one of the Academy's highest honors.
An outstanding author-to-actor presentation copy of Grand Hotel, intimately connecting Vicki Baum's novel with its legendary MGM adaptation - inscribed by Baum to cast member Jean Hersholt, extensively annotated and signed by Hersholt with his personal recollection of the film's production, and preserved with original cast photographs and Hersholt's signed bookplate. A superb Hollywood association copy of one of the defining novels and films of the interwar era.
From the collection of Leslie Bricusse.
Price: $8,500.00