Photoplay Writing

New York: Falk Publishing Co., Inc.. Very Good+. (c.1922). First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket, probably as issued) [good solid copy, light shelfwear to bottom edge, a little spotting/soiling to fore-edge, minor discoloration to endpapers, attractive vintage bookplate (W. Ernest Vincent II) on front pastedown; gilt lettering on front cover a little rubbed but still fully readable]. (B&W photographic plates) This volume, "used as a supplementary text in [the] New York Institute of Photography," tells the budding screenwriter everything he or she needs to know, in 25 straightforwardly-titled chapters: "What Scenario Editors Want from You"; "What a Continuity Is"; "How a Story is Handled"; "How Censorship Affects the Writer"; etc. The author, per a brief bio on the title page, had written several other tomes along the same lines -- including "The Motion Picture Story" in 1914, one of the first such how-to books -- and had worked in various capacities for several motion picture firms of the day (the Selig Polyscope Company, Pathé Exchange, the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., etc.). The text is illustrated by numerous stills from silent films, although most are not identified by title. .