Description

“TO? OLD R.H.B. HIMSELF”: LIMITED FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, OF DISNEY’S PINOCCHIO, INSCRIBED BY WALT DISNEY TO HIS PROMINENT ATTORNEY, GUNTHER LESSING

DISNEY, Walt. Walt Disney’s Version of Pinocchio. New York: Random House, (1939). Quarto, original beige cloth, printed paper cover label, spiral-bound as issued; 44 leaves, text and images to recto only. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

Very rare limited first American edition, presentation copy, number 25 of only 100 copies printed for legal copyright, boldly inscribed on the title page in the year of publication to Disney’s controversial legal counsel, “To Gunther Lessing, old R.H.B. himself, Walt Disney, May 1939.”

Walt Disney’s second full-length animated feature, Pinocchio, would not debut in theaters until 1940. Because animated production took several years, filmmakers sought to copyright the film’s elements in advance of the finished project. By publishing the story and character designs in book form and putting the book on public sale (often in the Disney studio store), legal copyright could be established. This book records the development of the film, through character designs, rough pencil sketches of the action and a sequence-by-sequence continuity outline of the plot. Carlo Collodi’s beloved tale of the puppet who becomes a “real boy” first appeared in Italian in serial form, 1881-83. Disney’s version of the story also published in a London limited edition of 100 copies and an unlimited, cloth-bound trade edition. This copy inscribed to Gunther R. Lessing, head of Walt Disney Studios’ legal department and eventually vice-president and general counsel for the company. Walt and Roy Disney hired Lessing in 1929 to help them protect their rights to their cartoons; Lessing is also said to have suggested Disney make his name a trademark brand. The phrase “old R.H.B.” is rumored to stand for “old red-headed bastard,” a nickname reflecting the low regard in which many Disney employees came to hold Lessing (who fought, ultimately unsucessfully, to minimize organized labor’s victories within the Disney empire). Additionally inscribed in another hand with notice of receipt to title page. Two staples to limitation page.

Interior clean. Slight rubbing to spine ends, a few tiny spots to front board. A most desirable document from Disney Studios, in near-fine condition and most desirable personally inscribed by Walt Disney.