Extremely collectible signed book & Photograph: Show Boat. This is the Limited First Edition from Doubleday, Page & Company, New York issued on August 19th, 1926. This copy being “1” of 201 copies printed on rag paper and signed by Edna Ferber. 8vo. 6.25 x 9, 398 pages. Top edge gilt with others uncut, in fact many pages remain uncut. Hardcover with green paper-covered boards and vellum quarter binding, with matching slipcase and paper label to spine, Signed nicely on the colophon in blue ink by Edna Ferber. Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG/None in a G+ slipcase, with some recent repairs and reinforcement to the slipcase edges. Some toning to the velum spine with a small split to the lower spine end. The book comes with a clear acetate jacket.
The play for Show Boat, adapted from Ferber’s novel, won the Pulitzer Prize and opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York December 27, 1927, and featured the now famous Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical score. Included with this book is a rare and original photograph featuring the cast of Show Boat on opening night in 1927 taken on the Ziegfeld Theater stage and including the Broadway Impresario himself, Florenz Ziegfeld. With the blind stamp of photographer Harold Stein on the front and the words “A personal photograph of Harold Stein” stamped on the back along with several notations about the production and with the names of each of the original cast members in the photo. Measuring 71/2″ x 9 1/2″ and in near fine condition with edges slightly trimmed, light wear to the corners and some soiling and four small adhesive marks visible on the back corners. Overall, a very desirable copy Number 1 of this signed limited edition of Edna Ferber’s Show Boat.
